Chlorine gas leak at MBMC lands seven in hospital

Mumbai: It has come to light that the chlorine leakage at the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) waterworks was the result of negligence and apathy on the part of officials.

Seven persons, including five fire brigade personnel, landed in the hospital due to this.A major tragedy was averted Thursday night as leakage was reported from a cylinder weighing 163 kilogram and containing around 100 kilogram of chlorine installed by the local fire station's overhead water reservoir in Bhayandar west. Even as the chlorine gas started leaking from the cylinder at around 11.45 pm, the pungent smell triggered panic among people living in the vicinity.

Even as occupants of five towers in the vicinity were evacuated, efforts of fire brigade personnel to plug the leak failed, prompting them to disconnect the cylinder and ferry it all the way to Bhayandar creek where they disposed it into the waters for the remaining gas to dissolve.

A fire brigade personnel said, “The fire service has very little to deal with in such situations, however it appeared that the base of the cylinder hadrusted, leading to the leakage.”