2 dead in ammonia gas leak in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur

Two women died, and 62 others were affected following an ammonia gas leak at the production unit of a private fish meal export factory in Tiruvallur district on Sunday, the Tamil Nadu Government said.

The incident happened at Kannigaipair village near Periyapalayam.

According to a Government press release, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has instructed the formation of a three-member committee with the Director of Industrial Safety and Health, the Member Secretary, Pollution Control Board and the Additional Director of Public Health, and to submit an interim report within 24 hours and a final report within three days.

Earlier, the police said the death toll was seven, but a CMO release and Health Minister KG Arunraj later put it at two.

Speaking to reporters, Arunraj said that an ammonia gas leak with an impact of this scale has never happened. “Doctors say we haven’t seen cases with such high levels anywhere else,” the minister said. He also said the health condition of some patients shows a worsening trend, adding that critical patients have been shifted out of private hospitals to Government hospitals.