Chlorine gas leak in Mumbai Port Trust

The Bhopal gas tragedy of over 25 years ago still haunts the country. It was a nightmare, thus, when a part of South Mumbai woke up to the news that toxic Chlorine gas had leaked from a cylinder kept at the Mumbai Port Trust at 3.15 am on Wednesday morning.

The leak was contained six hours later, at 9 am.

The gas caused acute respiratory distress affecting close to 100 people in the Maximum city.

Over 70 people were hospitalised and eight of them were reported to be critically ill and were transferred to the cardiac intensive care unit.

The victims were admitted to JJ Hospital and King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital. Among those in hospital are 14 students of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Maritime College.

A hither and thither situation was created when the leak was detected. Fire fighters were sent to the spot to sanitize the area. Some of the firemen were affected too.

"Following the complaint, our men rushed to the spot to plug the leakage. However, four of our men also took ill and have been rushed to nearby hospitals," Uday Tatkare, the Chief Fire Officer, said.

Rahul Asthana, Deputy Chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust said that the situation was under control as Sodium Hydroxide as a neutralising agent was procured.

As a precautionary measure, people residing in and around the area were evacuated. To ensure that the leak did not spread to other areas, the firemen made a 'water curtain' and pushed it towards the sea.

Chlorine gas is a respiratory irritant and it causes eye irritation including nausea, vomiting, dizziness and headache. If a person is trapped for a long period in a high chlorine concentration atmosphere, loss of consciousness and possibly death can happen.