COLOMBO // Sri Lankan authorities shut down a detergent factory in the capital Colombo yesterday after more than 70 people taken to hospital following a suspected toxic gas leak, police said.
“Some of them are still in hospital eight hours after the incident was reported,” Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said.
He said that 72 factory workers and nearby residents fell sick after gas — thought to be ammonia — leaked from the plant.
“The initial investigations suggest there had been an ammonia gas leak from the plant,” he said.
The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) said it immediately shut down the factory in the suburb of Piliyandala on the outskirts of Colombo pending further investigations.
CEA director Saranga Alahapperuma said investigations were under way into the factory’s methods for storing chemicals used to manufacture detergents.
Industrial accidents are rare in Sri Lanka but there is growing concern about factories near residential neighbourhoods following a recent groundwater contamination by a rubber glove plant just outside Colombo.
* Agence France-Presse
