City Centre Gas Alert Follows Irish Hospital Evacuation

Just hours after the evacuation of patients and staff in a Kilkenny hospital - following a reported gas leak on Thursday morning - part of Belfast city centre was also sealed off in a similar incident.

A total of 28 patients and staff at the Department of Psychiatry in St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny had to be evacuated and taken to St Canice's Hospital after Bord Gáis officials and fire brigade crews were called to the scene.

The Irish Health Service Executive said builders working at the site are thought to have hit a gas pipe between the hospital and a housing estate shortly after 9am.

The evacuated patients were able to return to the hospital later the same day, but the affected wards were closed to visitors and outpatient appointments cancelled for the whole of Thursday afternoon.

However, all essential surgery, which had been postponed earlier in the day, resumed later with an HSE spokesman insisting that the hospital was functioning relatively normally by mid afternoon.

Meanwhile, a gas leak in Belfast city centre has led to a similar evacuation of nearby businesses.

It is understood workmen cut through a pipe in Bedford Street early on Thursday afternoon.

A Phoenix Natural Gas spokesperson said a third-party contractor had damaged the supply.

Workers were told to move for their own safety as levels of gas in the area increased. Engineers were called to the scene to repair the damage.

(BMcC)