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Three workers were killed and one other was in critical condition in a Haifa hospital late Sunday after inhaling poisonous material from an accidental leak at the country's oil refinery, the rescue service said. The rescue service said in a statement that its crews worked to resuscitate the victims at the scene and on the way to the hospital. Paramedic Eli Geller said the four were not breathing and had no pulse when they were found. He told Israel Radio, "One's pulse has been restored, and a second is showing signs of recovery." The rescue service said in a statement that two of the men died in the hospital. Eight other people — five workers and three members of the rescue team — were also affected, but not seriously, the statement said. Israel Radio said the leak was contained within the refinery, and there was no danger outside. Fire-fighter Pini Seeson told Israel Radio from the scene that a worker collapsed while replacing a seal because of the leak, and his partner was also overcome while trying to get him out. The two were wearing protective gear, he said, but two others who went in unprotected to extract them were poisoned. The huge oil refinery is on Haifa's Mediterranean seacoast. Haifa, a key seaport, is Israel's third largest city with a population of 265,000. The refinery has been a target of environmentalists and worried residents because of the potential for widespread damage and casualties in the Haifa area in the event of an accident or an attack. During a 34-day war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006, a Katyusha rocket fired from south Lebanon hit an open area in the facility, causing minor damage, according to the refinery company.

“This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred,” Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Wednesday, a day after a gas leak at the Oil Refineries Ltd. in Haifa killed three and injured eight, one seriously. A third man succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday morning – Samer al-Hajj, 18, of Yafia, a village near Nazareth. Two cousins from the same village had also died in the leak: George Za’atrah, 31, and Tamer Marjiah, 33. Eight victims are still hospitalized, and the condition of one of them remains serious. “I have been warning for years about the dangers of the area, which are like a nuclear bomb,” the minister said. “I hope that there is a timeline, due to the dangers of concentrations of toxic materials and dangerous factories in the area, to begin the careful move of the dangerous facilities over the coming years. I also exercised my authority when I was minister of national infrastructures to bring natural gas to the area, which will slightly lower the great danger there. “We’re still investigating the causes of the accident, and we should remain cautious about it. If I see that the area continues to be a safety hazard, I’ll act to close it.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the families of those who were killed. He said in a statement that he was taking the matter very seriously. He and Ben- Eliezer agreed that Ben- Eliezer would present the initial findings of his ministry’s investigation to the cabinet on Sunday. The investigation into the incident “will check possible technical failures, professional failures, and possible violations of laws or safety regulations,” the ministry’s Chief Labor Inspector Yoram Elazar said in a phone interview with Bloomberg. MK Dov Henin (Hadash) has scheduled an urgent hearing of the Knesset Health and Environment Committee for next Monday to discuss the situation as well as two leaks of bromine, an extremely hazardous chemical, earlier on Tuesday. Those leaks occurred at Haifa Port Company Ltd. and at Ramat Horav in the Negev, and both could have had lethal consequences. An Oil Refineries spokesman contacted by Bloomberg declined to say whether the company planned to delay the plant’s reopening as a result of the fatal leak. A spokesman said on Tuesday night that the men were part of a crew doing periodic maintenance on the plant, which had been temporarily shut down.The team had been provided with proper safety gear, including masks, according to the spokesman. The company had been scheduled to do complete a “turnaround” at its Haifa units in the first 10 days of December, Chief Executive Officer Yashar Ben- Mordechai told Bloomberg on Monday. Work on units at the refinery, including a catalytic regeneration plant and hydrogen facility, started at the end of October. The refinery has the capacity to process 197,000 barrels of crude oil a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The series of breakdowns yesterday, which ended with the deaths in Haifa, have raised serious questions about the handling of hazardous materials.