Investigations are continuing into a chemical leak at a factory which injured 42 workers at a factory in west Wales.

Employees at the Dawn Pac meat processing plant in Cross Hands, near Llanelli - almost destroyed by a fire last month - were taken to hospital after ammonia leaked from a pipe.

One person was critically injured in the accident on Wednesday, and has been treated for severe burns.

Job cuts followed the fire in June

Other patients have been suffering eye irritation, nausea, light-headedness and breathing difficulties.

South Wales Police confirmed 20 people were taken to West Wales General Hospital at Glangwili, Carmarthen - one ambulance officer and two police officers.

The other 22 people were taken to Swansea's Morriston Hospital. At the height of the emergency, there were 10 ambulances at the factory itself.

The company which runs the factory, Dawn Pac, released a statement, saying the leak happened "while subcontractors were working at reinstalling the refrigeration system after the fire three weeks ago".

That fire almost destroyed the factory,and led to the loss of 183 jobs.

At the time, the firm had hoped it would be able to resume limited production at the Cross Hands facility.

Exclusion zone

The leak of ammonia from a pipe was reported at 0800 BST on Wednesday morning - and Dyfed Powys Police said two people were affected at that time.

The premises were then evacuated and emergency services asked for breathing apparatus to help them deal with the situation.

An exclusion zone of 300m was set up at the business park which meant other businesses were forced to evacuate their premises too.

Weather reports were requested following the leak, but the M4 motorway was not affected because the wind was blowing in the opposite direction.

Local people were initially asked to stay indoors until further notice, and the all-clear was given at 0948BST.

The Health and Safety Executive has now been called in to investigate.