Navotas City ammonia leak: 20 victims remain in hospital

Photo from BFP PIO

MANILA, Philippines — Twenty victims of an ice plant ammonia leak along North Bay Boulevard in Navotas City remain under observation, CMayor Toby Tiangco said Thursday.

“Sa PGH [Philippine General Hospital] na 20, nandoon pa rin daw po dahil under observation. (20 victims are still in PGH for observation.),” Tiangco said in an ABS-CBN Teleradyo interview.

Tiangco added that over 40 other victims brought to Navotas Hospital and Tondo Medical Hospital have been sent home.

The owners of T.P. Marcelo Ice Plant will shoulder the cost of burial and hospital bills of the lone fatality in the incident, the mayor said.

Mayor Toby Tiangco. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

“Iyong hospital bill at burial cost dapat sagutin ng kumpanya dahil ang aksidente galing sa kumpanya. Hindi ito natural disaster hindi ito tulad ng lindol at baha na dapat sagutin ng LGU [local government unit],” Tiangco said.

He said the ice plant is owned by relatives of his mother.

(The lone fatality’s hospital bill and burial cost should be handled by the company because the accident is from the company. It isn’t a natural disaster like earthquake or typhoon that should be the responsibility of the LGU.)

Tiangco identified the deceased as Gilbert Tiangco, 44, one of the employees of the ice plant.

On Wednesday afternoon,  4 p.m., Tiangco ordered affected residents amid the ammonia leak.

Two hours later, the mayor said the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) had declared the incident under control.

After four hours, the BFP said the substance leak was contained.

The city’s Bureau of Permits and Licensing Office already issued a closure order on the ice plant.

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