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MUMBAI : Scores of people were treated in hospital on Wednesday after a chlorine gas leak in an industrial area of India's commercial capital Mumbai, officials said.
Four firefighters were among about 90 people taken to several hospitals for treatment for breathing in the toxic gas, the city's chief fire officer Uday Tatkare told AFP.
"One of three cylinders stored in a courtyard at a warehouse leaked. The leakage has been brought under control and we are in damage control mode," Tatkare said by telephone from the scene.
Firefighters in protective suits sprayed metal cylinders at the site in the Sewri industrial zone of Mumbai and the area was cordoned off as a precaution during the clean-up operation.
Ten people admitted to intensive care at the state-run Jamshetjee Jejeebhoy Hospital suffering from acute breathing problems were later described as in a stable condition, a spokesman said.
The land owned by the Mumbai Port Trust is an industrial area mainly used for storage and delivery of cargo and containers. It has many derelict factories and warehouses and is also home to a slum.
Mumbai Port Trust chairman Rahul Asthana told AFP that some operators using the site import empty chlorine cylinders and fill them for re-use.
"Some residual chlorine appears to have been left and that leaked out into the atmosphere," he said. "It's under control. We have put sodium hydroxide on it."
Chlorine is used as a common disinfectant and in water treatment to prevent communicable diseases like cholera and typhoid and has applications in industries like textiles, printing, plastics and pharmaceuticals.
It was also used as a chemical weapon in World War I.
Breathing in chlorine gas can cause coughing and vomiting as well as irritation to eyes, while prolonged exposure may cause permanent lung damage, respiratory failure and even death.
V.B. Sant, director-general of the National Safety Council of India, said awareness of the dangers of hazardous chemicals had improved in India since the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, which was the world's worst industrial disaster.
"Such cases are becoming rarer. It's definitely improving but it's a continual process," he said. - AFP/ms
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