Melaka residents recall chlorine gas leak incident
MELAKA: A bad odour which permeated the air in Kampung Tambak on Thursday afternoon has left its residents complaining of fatigue, watery eyes, sore throat and drowsiness.
Restaurant owner Salina Samin said she was busy in the kitchen of her restaurant about 3pm when she was overcome by the odour, leaving her with throat pain, drowsiness and watery eyes.
“Several patrons also complained of similar symptoms and I decided to close the shop straightaway as I was feeling unwell,” she said.
Salina said she had severe headache and felt sleepy until late at night and she only got to know that there was a chlorine gas leak yesterday evening when fire engines arrived at the site of the incident.
Meanwhile, a private sector worker, S. Balakrisham, 45, said he was watching television with the family at their house when he rushed out to check the source of the chlorine gas odour in the air.
“Upon coming out of the house, I saw several of my neighbours and at that time, I started feeling throat ache and dizziness,” he said.
Balakrisham said firemen arrived at the scene about 6pm before he and eight family members were asked to evacuate to Sekolah Kebangsaan Tambak Paya.
“After registering at the evacuation centre, we decided to move to a friend’s house in Malim and only returned home at 7 this morning,” he said, adding that while the house still smelt of chlorine, no one fell ill.
Villagers returned home yesterday morning but about 250 were told by the police to re-vacate their homes to enable displacement works of the chlorine gas drums yesterday evening.
Melaka Fire Rescue Department Deputy Superintendent (Operations) Kamarulzaman Mohd Din said the gas drums would be returned to the owner in Rawang, Selangor, accompanied by the Hazardous Materials Unit ( Hazmat) and the police. — Bernama and