Chlorine gas escapes

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 3

Chlorine gas escapes

PA Auckland Eleven people were treated at Auckland Hospital yesterday after poisonous chlorine gas escaped from a flour mill in central Auckland. More than 95 workers had to be moved out of the plant of the Northern Roller Milling Company in Fort Street about 9.15 a.m.

Ten mill hands and a woman receptionist who were affected by the gas were taken to hospital by ambulance. Later, one man was placed in the intensivecare unit.

Two workers were kept under observation, while the others were discharged after treatment. The head of the accident and emergency department at Auckland hospital, Dr David Snow, said the workers had not been seriously affected by the chlorine. “They had eye and throat irritations, and some

breathing difficulties,” he said. Hundreds of people from offices near the mill also had to be moved. Part of Fort Street was closed to traffic and pedestrians for almost two hours. The general manager of the mill, Mr John Fotheringham, said gas escaped from a narrow pipe in the bleaching plant