Ammonia leak downs over 100 in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—More than 100 persons, including women and children,  were rushed to various hospitals and hundreds of others were forced out of their homes by a gas leak at an ice plant here that lasted until dawn Thursday, officials said.

Mayor Celso Lobregat immediately ordered an investigation into the ammonia gas leak that affected residents of Zone 8 in Barangay Ayala starting late Wednesday.

“A deeper probe is needed to determine who are culpable and be made answerable for the gas leak. I have directed the Office of the City Environment and Natural Resources as well as the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau to conduct a probe of this incident,” Lobregat told the Inquirer.

Information reaching the Inquirer indicated that an initial investigation conducted by environment officials showed that workers at the ice plant, which is operated by Leo Fishing, were cleaning the facility’s pipes before the gas leak.

Something fell on one of the pipes that might have ruptured it, investigators said.

City Councilor Cesar Jawo Jimenez, who lives in Barangay Ayala, said most of those affected lived near the ice plant.

“The pungent odor of ammonia from the ice plant was initially tolerable. It got stronger by the minute and we suffered difficulty in breathing,” he said.

Jimenez said the sheer number of people affected by the gas leak so overwhelmed a local health clinic that its staff told residents to go to other health facilities.

He said some residents fled their homes as soon as the gas leak was noted. At least a thousand people sought refuge at a gymnasium, Jimenez said.

Lobregat said residents who fled the gas leak eventually returned home but some victims remained in hospitals.

Diosterides Librero, chair of Barangay Ayala, said the ice plant’s owner, Ismael Tan, assisted the victims in getting medical attention.

“We are fortunate that no one got seriously ill or in serious condition,” Librero said.