Employees at the plant were reportedly instructed to shelter in place as emergency crews responded.

Emergency Response and the Scope of the Leak

Israel Fire and Rescue Services confirmed it received a report through its 102 emergency dispatch center that employees had detected a hazardous materials leak at the Intel facility. Fire and rescue crews from the Ashkelon station were deployed to the scene, and specialized hazardous materials units were dispatched to investigate. The service said its teams were monitoring the source of the substance, working to stabilize the situation, and taking samples of the hazardous material. It added that the incident was contained within the plant grounds and posed no danger to local residents. No casualties had been reported at the time of the statement. Intel said the leak was detected by its monitoring systems during preparations to remove gas tanks from the Kiryat Gat plant, and that it was working in full coordination with emergency services and the relevant authorities.

A Fatal Explosion Just Days Earlier

The Monday leak followed a deadly explosion at the same plant last week in which two Intel employees lost their lives: Ilya Chechulin, 49, and Yakir Kosashvili, 35. A third employee, a man in his twenties, was injured and hospitalized in serious condition in the internal medicine intensive care unit at Soroka Medical Center, where he was reported to be sedated and on a ventilator. According to Fire and Rescue Services, that earlier explosion was likely caused by a technical failure involving the rupture of a tank neck on a vessel containing eight tons of nitrogen trifluoride. The incident was described as rare, and it remains unclear whether the failure resulted from wear and tear or could have been prevented.

Source: Calcalist report.