ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An ammonia gas leak at a major fertilizer plant in the Khor al-Zubair district of southwest Basra province on Sunday left dozens suffering from suffocation, the district’s mayor told Rudaw.
“The suffocation cases included employees as well as residents of homes adjacent to the fertilizer plant,” Abbas Maher told Rudaw’s Mushtaq Ramadan.
The leak occurred at a facility operated by the state-run Southern Fertilizer State Company, Iraq’s most vital chemical fertilizer manufacturing complex, which accounts for about 60 percent of the country’s domestic demand.
Footages sent to Rudaw show a dense white smoke rapidly flowing to the air, followed by a convoy of ambulances dispatched to the site.
Basra’s civil defense directorate announced it had "successfully controlled a suffocating ammonia gas leak” inside the complex.
“Field efforts resulted in the rescue of 10 employees from inside the company's facilities and the recovery of the bodies of two workers who died as a result of the incident,” they said in a statement.
“Preliminary inspections showed that the incident was caused by an accidental, emergency gas leak. Specialized teams have taken all necessary measures to secure the site and fully contain the situation,” the statement added.
Local security and medical sources reported that more than 50 people, including workers on the evening shift, were hospitalized for breathing difficulties, prompting the evacuation of the plant and surrounding residential areas.
Hours after the incident, Minister of Industry and Minerals Khaled Nouri ordered the formation of a "ministerial committee to investigate the causes of gas leak, according to a statement from the ministry.
Industrial gas leaks, toxic vapor releases, and chemical accidents have occurred in Basra, largely due to aging energy infrastructure, poor maintenance, and lagging safety compliance.
In October 2025, a gas leak in an older pumping system at a Zubair 1 oil field facility sparked an explosion and storage fire. Radhi Abdul Sahib, the facility's head of safety and maintenance, died from fatal burns and suffocation while responding to the leak, and four other workers were injured.
Similarly, a separate toxic gas leak along an oil and gas pipeline in the Burjesia area near Zubair in late October 2025 triggered a flash fire. That incident killed two workers and injured eight others.
