Mettur, 14 October, 2012 — A gas leak from Chemplast’s Plant III that lasted from 5.30 to 6.15 p.m. on October 13, 2012, sent more than 16 people, including 7 children aged 5 to 17, to the hospital. Affected people described the gas as white coloured smoke that smelled like crushed Papaya leaves, and caused eye and throat irritation, vomitting and giddiness. Besides the 16 who were sent to the Government Hospital for the night, many others sought treatment at private clinics nearby/. The doctor at the Government Hospital described the effects as “simple” and not of a serious nature. However, till the time of writing no-one seemed to know the chemical that had leaked. According to Gonur West Agriculturists Development Union which is monitoring the situation, the leak happened during a brief period of rain shower that began at around 4.30 p.m. The winds that were blowing towards the Northeast carried the smoke towards the Karunkaradu area, GWADU said. The Revenue Divisional Officer and the President of Gonur Panchayat visited the hospital last night. It is not known whether the Police have registered a case in the matter. GWADU has said that it will lodge a complaint with the police today considering that gas leaks from Chemplast are routine affairs. Among those affected, there are several people who have also been affected in earlier gas leaks.
The people hospitalised include:
Subramani, s/o Palaniappa Gounder, age 70
Harish, s/o Ramamurthy, aged 5
Archita, d/o Ramamurthy, aged 7
Bhupalan, s/o Govindaraj, aged 48
Ramamurthy, s/o Govindaraj, aged 42
Arul, s/o Subramaniam, aged 38
Tarun Kumar, s/o Arul, aged 9
Prem Kumar, s/o Arul, aged 11
Raman, s/o Karuppu Chetti, aged 55
Naveen, s/o Bhupalan, aged 14
Gomathi, w/o Bhupalan, aged 38
Poongodi,w/o Ramamurthy, aged 33
Alagarasan, s/o Manickam, aged 42
Prabhakaran, s/o Alagesan, aged 17
Prasanth, s/o Elumalai, aged 17
Suseela, w/o Ponnappan, aged 37