Detection of COCl2, a highly toxic gas in chemical industry, using laser photoacoustic spectroscopy is presented. The spectrophone system used has a broad band LN2 cooled CW CO laser as a source of radiation, which operates from 4.8–8.4 um in the mid-infrared. Using an extracavity open longitudinal resonant cell, absorption signals to about 30 CO laser lines in the 5.45 um region could be observed. detection sensitivity has been estimated to be ppb order.