One seriously injured, 12 hurt following ammonia leak at ice factory

SANDAKAN - A total of 13 ice factory workers suffered shortness of breath, eye pain and skin irritation after inhaling ammonia gas in an incident at Batu 3, here on Friday.

In the 10am incident, the machine for making ice at the factory was believed to have broke and caused an ammonia gas leak.

Sandakan Fire and Rescue Station chief Severinus@Mohd Nidzam Sainkui said the team received a distress call at 10.02am.

"There were 13 factory workers trapped inside causing five of them including a man to suffer serious injuries.

"The victim's experience symptoms such as pain and redness in the eyes, irritation on the skin also were found in a weak state," he said when contacted by Sinar Harian on Friday.

He also said that the firemen wore personal protective clothing (PPE) to remove victims trapped in the building.

"Five victims who were found to have symptoms of being exposed to the gas were immediately sent to the hospital by ambulance.

"The firemen then carried out decontamination and sanitation operations in the entire area. Monitoring was also carried out in the nearby building area and ordered all workers to immediately leave the area that was declared safe," he said.

Severinus added that the police ordered the location of the incident and the nearby area to be evacuated with a radius of 100 metres until the situation was safe.

"The operation ended at 12.06pm after the firemen ensured that the scene was safe,” he said.