Ammonia leak downs 66 in Laguna

STA CRUZ, LAGUNA — Sixty-six persons including infants were hospitalized after an ammonia leaked from an ice plant here Sunday afternoon, police said yesterday.

Superintendent Steve Ludan, Sta Cruz chief of police, said 66 residents living near the Sta. Cruz Ice Plant in Barangay Bubucal were rushed to Laguna Provincial Hospital and Pagsanjan Medical Clinic for suffocation and skin rashes.

Ludan said that suspected ammonia chemical has leaked from one of the tubes used in freezing ice blocks subsequently releasing a very strong foul odor.

He said 46 victims were rushed to the Laguna Provincial Hospital while 20 were treated at the Pagsanjan Medical Clinic with ages ranging from an infant with less than a year old and an elderly woman aged 94 years old. — Arnell Ozaeta