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Chlorine leak leaves 92 sick Mumbai, July 14 Eight victims, who have been admitted to the state-owned J J and KEM hospitals, are in a critical condition, the police said. According to the Mumbai fire brigade officials, the chlorine gas began leaking at around 3 am. The fire brigade which was called in to contain the leak suffered a setback after four of its personnel began complaining of respiratory problems and had to be rushed to hospital. It took firefighters and experts from the Port Trust six hours to contain the leak. Meanwhile, the police evacuated residents in the area and cordoned off the locality as a precautionary measure. The police said 14 students from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Maritime College hostel were among those affected. Panic-stricken relatives of the victims thronged the two hospitals. They were seen running helter-skelter for news of their loved ones. “I got to know from friends that my cousin has been admitted to the KEM Hospital. I am waiting for permission to go in and meet him,” said Shabbir Abbas, who rushed to the city from Pune. Doctors said all victims were suffering from acute respiratory distress symptoms. The police said, the impact of the leak was minimized because the spot was located in the thinly populated dockyard area. Chief Fire Office Uday Tatkare said rescue officials were pushing the leaking gas towards the sea to prevent residential areas from getting affected. According to officials, the leaking cylinder was part of a consignment that was due for auction. “There was some residual chlorine in the empty cylinder which leaked out,” Rahul Asthana, deputy chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust told reporters. He added that the port trust sprayed sodium hydroxide to neutralise the leaking gas.Meanwhile, the Union Shipping Ministry has asked for details of the gas leak. Large areas of the Mumbai Port Trust have unused chemical containers that have been dumped here for years. Some of these have been imported as scrap and transported for recycling in units spread across the country. However, in cases where the consignment is left unclaimed by importers or where there is a dispute with the customs, these are left here till the cases are disposed off.
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