BOSTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Fifty-five people were taken to hospitals around New Bedford, Massachusetts, after being exposed to an unidentified gas at a garbage transfer station, authorities said.

Fire officials were sent to ABC Disposal Service following reports of people overcome by fumes, New Bedford Fire Chief Paul Leger told reporters.

"There was some kind of release of a chemical of some type. We do not know what that gas is," Leger said.

Two of the people who have been hospitalized are in critical condition, Leger said.

Fire officials said they have evacuated people from neighboring businesses.

New Bedford is about 60 miles (100 km) south of Boston.

Messages to executives at ABC Disposal Service, Inc., including the company's environmental health and safety manager, were not immediately returned. (Reporting by Scott Malone and Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Xavier Briand)

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