CHENNAI: St Peter & Paul Seafood Exports Private Limited – where the ammonia leak on June 21 left 18 women migrant workers dead and more than 60 others hospitalised – in Tiruvallur district was sealed on Wednesday as per the prescribed procedure.
The sealing follows completion of technical remediation work at the site that commenced on July 3. The personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH), Fire and Rescue Services, police and medical teams were deployed throughout the operation to ensure public safety.
The company had previously faced scrutiny over alleged safety violations. In October 2014, a gas leak at the same unit left a worker critically injured. The worker later succumbed to complications in January 2015, and the case is still pending trial.
During an inspection in 2017, DISH officials identified multiple safety violations, including the absence of a mandatory second emergency exit, poor maintenance of a 4.5-lakh-litre fire-safety water tank and the failure to provide a crèche despite employing more than 45 women workers. A court later found the company’s managing director guilty and imposed a fine of `7,500.
With the completion of the remediation exercise and the sealing of the unit, the officials said the immediate hazard-mitigation phase has concluded.