LUMBER BRIDGE, N.C. – An ammonia leak Saturday at a poultry processing plant in North Carolina killed one worker and injured three others, authorities said.
Robeson County Sheriff Kenneth Sealey said the leak occurred about 10 a.m. Saturday at the Mountaire Farms plant in Robeson
County in southern-central North Carolina, about 16 miles south of Fayetteville.
Sealey identified the worker who died as Clifton Swain of Fayetteville at a mid-afternoon briefing. Sealey did not have additional details about Swain. It was not immediately clear how he died or what caused the leak.
County Emergency Management Director Charles Britt told The Fayetteville Observer that the leak has been contained. The three injured workers, who were not identified, were taken to hospitals.
Two of the injured men were being treated at Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Lumberton, N.C., said spokeswoman Amanda
Crabtree. She did not provide further details.
Authorities have said that 30 to 40 people were at the plant when the leak occurred. Sealey said all workers have been accounted for at the plant, which employs 2,500 people.
A call to Mountaire Farms was not immediately returned Saturday. However, the company issued a statement expressing condolences for the victims and promising to cooperate with authorities.
