Six workers hospitalised after latest Map Ta Phut gas leak

The Nation 13 December 2009

Six construction workers were hospitalised yesterday after a poisonous gas leaked out near a power plant at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate in Rayong.

Reports by construction workers of a foul odour, sore throats and dizziness prompted the evacuation of about 200 workers from the Siam Steel Plate factory and other nearby sites at 8.30am.

Viraphong Chai-perm, deputy director of the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand, said the six workers were treated by doctors and sent home.

The IEAT immediately dispatched an inspection team to check the potential sources of the leak, including an idle fertiliser plant and the AR oil refinery, but found nothing unusual, he said.

Earlier this month, butene 1 - a flammable, colourless gas - escaped from a cargo vessel in the Map Tha Phut area, sending 63 people to hospital with dizziness, nausea and vomiting.

On December 2, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the suspension of 65 industrial projects in the Map Ta Phut area pending compliance with Article 67 of the Constitution, which requires health-impact assessments.

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