CHENNAI: Even as the death toll in the ammonia leak at St Peter & Paul Sea Foods Exports Private Limited in Tiruvallur district rose to nine on Tuesday, doctors treating the dozens of the private facility’s other workers express concern that the patients may face long-term impact due to the “high” level of exposure to the gas.
Of the 80-odd people who were hospitalised following the leakage at the seafood processing unit on June 21, several suffered cardiac arrest, altered sensorium, coma and bleeding from the nose, indicating that they inhaled high levels of ammonia, said doctors.
A senior doctor attending to the victims recalled that they saw 14 cases during the ammonia leak at a fertilizer unit in Ennore in 2023. They, however, only had suffered skin irritation, giddiness and vomiting due to mild gas inhalation.
A doctor at the Government Stanley Hospital treating the workers said above 250 ppm of ammonia only can cause organ damage. The patients had respiratory tract oedema and so had to be intubated, the doctor said. Dr K Kolandasamy, former director of public health and preventive medicine, said ammonia is an irritant gas. It will hence affect the mucous membrane in the respiratory tract and cause pulmonary oedema.
A treating doctor at the Government Stanley Hospital said treatment was given depending on which of the patient’s organs were affected.
The affected are administered antibiotics, steroids and fluids depending on their condition.
Five bodies airlifted
Chennai: The mortal remains of five women from Odisha who died in the ammonia leak incident were airlifted to their home state on Tuesday. The bodies of four more victims will be transported upon completion of formalities, according to a health department bulletin. Seven of the nine deceased were from Odisha while the other two hailed from Assam. Of the 83 affected in Sunday’s incident, the bulletin stated that 66 women and three men are under treatment. Of these 21 are on ventilator support and 14 are on nasal oxygen. The remaining 34 are stable.