Udupi :  After ammonia leaked at a fish factory at Devalkunda village,  75 workers, including five from Nepal, took ill were admitted to Adarsha Hospital at Kundapur in Udupi district on Monday.

The workers, 68 women and seven men, were working at the Malpe Fresh Marine Export Pvt. Ltd. where the leak occurred and they suffered breathing difficulties.

Of the 75 workers, two are under critical observation. “Of these two workers, a woman had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. The remaining 73 persons have been kept under general observation for 24 hours and are out of danger,” said Superintendent of Police Nisha James.

The fish processing unit employs 401 workers, including 91 administrative staff. The workers, mostly from North Karnataka, North India and Nepal, stayed on the factory premises.

A pipe connected two ammonia gas cylinders of 4,000 kg capacity each to the water condenser unit in the factory. But there was a leak in the pipe carrying the ammonia gas at around 6.15 a.m. and the gas spread in about 300-m radius of the factory.

The people living nearby informed the Fire Station in Kundapur at 6.40 a.m. and the police at 7 a.m. about the leak. A fire tender from Kundapur rushed to the spot at around 7 a.m., while another fire tender from Udupi with breathing apparatus set reached the spot at 7.30 a.m. Meanwhile, the 75 workers, who were ill, were shifted to hospital.

The staff of the Fire and Emergency Services put on the breathing apparatus and managed to switch off the valve of the pipe to prevent further leak. “We managed to control the situation by 8 a.m.,” Vasanth Kumar, District Fire and Emergency Services Officer, told.

The role of Mr. Kumar and his team was pivotal in switching off the valve and checking the spread of ammonia and preventing any explosion of cylinders, said Deputy Commissioner Hephsiba Rani Korlapati.

Both Ms. Korlapati and Ms. James visited the factory and also the hospital and enquired about the health of the workers.