OVER a hundred people were hospitalised in Chonburi last night (Apr. 17) after ammonia leaked at an ice factory with people living within a kilometre radius of the plant told to evacuate, Amarin TV said this morning.
At 11.30 p.m. a disaster relief/rescue team took technicians wearing self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) kits into Bang Lamung ice factory, in Naklua subdistrict, to close the valve and evacuate those still within.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Thawatchakiat Jinda Kuansanong, commander of Chonburi Provincial Police, quickly rushed to the scene and oversaw the spraying of water at the factory and nearby areas by disaster relief officials from Nong Prue municipality and Pattaya City to bring the highly irritating ammonia gas closer to the ground so that fewer people were affected.
Mr. Boonanant Pattanasin, an executive of Bang Lamung ice factory, said after inspecting the plant that there was no explosion or fire but it still had to be checked where the gas leaked.
Employees may have panicked and not shut the valve causing the ammonia to spread out and affect nearby residents with three to four of them in serious condition and around 80 to 100 injured but no fatalities, he added.
An unofficial count shows 141 people were injured with 129 being green cases, nine yellow cases and three in the red category.
Residents had started returning to their homes this morning because the sharp smell of ammonia had started to fade away. A noodle stall in front of the factory was open as usual with there being customers sitting around and eating.
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The ice factory where the ammonia leaked last night. Photo: Amarin TV
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