THOOTHUKUDI: As many as 29 women workers of a private seafoods exporting company in the district have been hospitalised late night at the backdrop of an alleged ammonia gas leak incident. However, officials denied any ammonia gas leak, and attributed the incident to smoke emanated out of electricity leaks in a closed hall.
Officials headed by Kovilpatti Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Christy Jane, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) officials are inspecting the plant.
Sources said that the women employees belonging to the private seafood company located at Pudurpandiapuram near Thoothukudi corporation on the Ettayapuram road, were busy packing the fishes at the cold storage unit when they suffered suffocation allegedly due to ammonia gas leak.
Sources told TNIE that the women fainted in the premises following the gas leak. They were shifted to Thoothukudi medical college hospital and a private hospital in an ambulance for immediate medical attention.
The fire and safety personnel were pressed into action and cordoned off the area, he said.
According to reliable sources, the women workers who suffered breathing trouble got a pungent smell emanating from a compartment nearby. At the time of incident, at least 150 women were in the premises.
The women are healthy and safe, however they are under observation, said a source from private hospital.
Refuting the allegations of ammonia leak, a senior official of TNPCB told TNIE on conditions of anonymity that the incident was a result of smoke emanated following an electric short circuit. "Due to the electric spark, the puff insulated on the walls of the cold storage unit got fired and smokes billowed. Since it was a closed premises, the workers were suffocated, while denying any ammonia leak, he said.