Belur, May 16: Dozens of people were affected after they inhaled chlorine gas that leaked from a water treatment plant belonging to the Town Municipal Council on the outskirts of Belur in Hassan district in the early hours of Tuesday.
Some of the affected people have been admitted to Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences in Hassan for treatment.
A watchman posted at the treatment plant noticed leakage of chlorine from a pipeline connected to a cylinder carrying 1,000 litres of chlorine.
As he failed to plug it, he informed senior officers of the TMC, who rushed to the spot. The leakage was noticed around 2.30 a.m. Following this, the staff of TMC and Fire and Emergency Services evacuated the residents in a 500 metre radius from the treatment plant in the wee hours.
The residents had already begun complaining of breathlessness, nausea and burning sensation in the throat, as the staff appealed them to move to a safer place.
“We have a chlorine cylinder in the plant to do chlorination. May be due to a hole in the pipeline the gas leaked. We called in the Fire and Emergency Response team”, said B.C. Basavaraju, Chief Officer of TMC.
The TMC had arranged for ambulance vehicles. “We plugged the leakage by 5 a.m. Four of our staff members were suffering from breathlessness and other problems after inhaling the gas. They are being treated in HIMS”, the officer said.
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