OLD GOA
Eighteen people were treated while five others were admitted in the GMC hospital, as a gas leak at a scrapyard in Bamon Bhat-Merces left residents in the area gasping for breath.
According to information available, the incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning when a chlorine gas cylinder at the scrapyard started leaking.
As the leak grew, there was an explosion of the gas with the locals stating that it appeared to be a dark cloud.
The explosion was such that the leaves on the trees and shrubs were dried up around the explosion site.
The leakage, though, saw many residents gasping for breath with several of them going to other areas to escape the suffocation.
However, several of the residents got affected with the leakage and had to be taken to the GMC hospital for treatment.
Among them was the owner of the scrapyard and his family members.
An Old Goa police source informed that in total, 18 people were treated at the GMC casualty while five others, including the owner, were admitted in hospital.
As the Panaji fire station was informed about the incident, a fire brigade rushed at the site to take stock of the situation.
However, workers at the scrapyard initially tried to hide the cylinders as they informed the firemen that they had only sprinkled chlorine powder around the area.
“But, an alert girl showed us the photos of the cylinders and upon looking at the same, we came to know that gas leakage had indeed taken place. Upon further investigation, we were then told that there were three chlorine gas cylinders, one of which started leaking which later resulted into the explosion,” a fire personnel informed The Goan.
“We then took the cylinders at a chemical unit in Corlim which had the expertise of disposing the chlorine cylinders,” the personnel further informed.
At the chemical unit, the leaking gas cylinder was safely disposed while the other two cylinders have been kept as these were not leaking.
Meanwhile, reliable sources informed that the workers were trying to dismantle the gas cylinder when the leakage occurred.
When The Goan visited the site, the strong smell of Chlorine was still in the air with some residents wearing mask as protection.
A local Edwin Vaz informed that the incident occurred at around 6 am after which the fire brigade and the police were informed.
“The fire personnel and the police arrived at the site and they took the three cylinders from the scrapyard,” Vaz stated.
Another local Shailesh Verlekar, whose house is located very close to the scrapyard pointed to the effect of the explosion as the leaves of the trees in front of the house had dried up.
“And the smell was really unbearable and I had to move my children away from the site so that they would not get affected,” Verlekar stated.
The locals then demanded that the scrapyard needs to be shut down as it is located right in the middle of a residential area.
“There are nearly 600 residents in the area and today’s incident should serve as an eye-opener to authorities who should shut down the scrapyard immediately so that such incidents do not occur in the future,” Verlekar added.
Meanwhile, the Old Goa police have registered a case of accidental incident in the matter.
