Two people have died, and more than two dozen others received medical treatment following a chemical leak at a PEMEX facility in Deer Park, a Houston suburb, authorities confirmed late Thursday. The incident prompted shelter-in-place orders for thousands of residents, which were later lifted as the situation came under control.
PEMEX, the Mexican state-owned petroleum company, reported the gas leak around 4:40 p.m. at one of its refinery processing units located at 5900 Highway 225. Initially described as an unknown chemical release, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez later confirmed the substance as hydrogen sulfide, a flammable and highly toxic gas.
The City of Deer Park updated the death toll to two in a statement, with 35 employees triaged on-site. Earlier reports had listed one dead and five injured, including one person who was airlifted by Life Flight for medical care.
A shelter-in-place order was issued at 7:30 p.m. for all 34,495 Deer Park residents, advising them to remain indoors. This order was lifted two hours later, at 9:30 p.m., after authorities deemed the air safe.
Texas State Highway 225 was temporarily shut down in both directions near Beltway 8 due to the emergency response.
PEMEX stated that they activated emergency protocols immediately following the leak and notified local authorities. To mitigate the situation, operations in the coking and hydro treatment units were stopped, and safety venting was initiated. Despite the incident, PEMEX and city officials confirmed that no impact on the surrounding community had been reported.
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