Chlorine gas causes scare around plant
IPOH: Coffeeshop owner Wai Mun Keen was busy serving her customers when she detected a pungent smell in the air.
“My customers panicked. They quickly finished their food, paid the bill and ran away as fast as they could,” said Wai, whose shop is opposite a chemical plant.
By 11am yesterday, she had to close her shop.
“The smell was unbearable,” said Wai, 48. Her eyes, nose, and throat suffered irritations as well.
About an hour earlier, there was an explosion at the factory which led to a stinging odour in the air in Kampung Baru Bukit Merah, Menglembu.
State Health Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon, who visited the site near the Bukit Merah industrial park, said it was not a chemical explosion or ammonia leakage.
However, he said there was a leakage from one of the tanks containing ferric acid.
“The tank collapsed not long after the leakage and the acid spilled into a pool of bleach, which produced chlorine gas as a chemical reaction.
“The chlorine gas is the reason why residents nearby faced that stinging smell in the air,” he told reporters.
Dr Mah said that at 1.02pm, the Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) team recorded the chlorine gas’ toxicity level at three parts per million (PPM).
“But as of 3pm, it was below 0.5PPM. This means that the area is safe now after the clean-up and neutralisation work,” he said.
Furthermore, the ferric acid that spilled into the drains outside had been contained and “neutralised”, he said.
However, two plant workers had to seek medical treatment.
Six firemen were also sent to the hospital after suffering from extreme exhaustion during the clean-up operation.
One of them had symptoms such as breathing difficulty, dizziness and red eyes.
Dr Mah said that factory staff were evacuated as soon as the chlorine gas was released, adding that the Department of Environment would follow up on the case and find out its cause.
A shopkeeper who wanted to be known only as Ah Boy, 37, said he lived near the chemical plant with his family of four.
“All of our throats felt so itchy. We couldn’t stop coughing,” he said.