Gas leak: unit sealed by RDO after removal of ammonia

The Tiruvallur district administration on Wednesday sealed the St. Peter and Paul Pvt. Ltd. seafood processing unit in Kannigaipair in Tiruvallur district, where an ammonia leak on June 21 claimed the lives of 18 workers.

Collector S. Kavitha said the process of pumping out ammonia from the unit, which began on Saturday morning, was completed by Tuesday evening.

“We ensured that the entire process was completed without any untoward incident. All the supporting departments worked in tandem,” she said.

The sealing was done by a team of officials led by Revenue Division Officer S. Ravichandran, who said that the gate of the unit would be locked on Thursday, after the compound was cleared of waste.

While eight workers were still undergoing treatment in hospitals, the district administration had sent 170 workers, who were not affected by the leak back to their homes in Odisha, Assam, and Jharkhand.

“As per the government’s instructions, we booked tickets and sent them along with officials from their respective districts. The salaries of the workers up to June 18 have also been sent to their bank accounts. The workers have been connected with manpower agencies in case they want to return to work in the district,” Mr. Ravichandran added.

620 tonnes seized

Meanwhile, Central Food Safety officials seized and moved around 620 tonnes of frozen cuttle fish, prawns, squid, and tuna to two private cold storage units last week.

They also lifted samples of the seafood. Around 80 tonnes of the seafood that were contaminated were moved to a private methane plant, where they were ground and converted to sustainable energy.