A suspected ammonia leak at a Young’s Seafood factory has halted production after a major incident was declared at its Kilkeel factory in County Down.
The seafood giant has launched an investigation after two people were taken to hospital just after midday yesterday (16 July) having inhaled the gas, which can cause breathing difficulties.
The pair were said to be in a stable condition, having been given oxygen by rescue services before ambulances arrived on the scene at the processing plant. A further 14 attended a County Armagh hospital for assessment but were not admitted.
Young’s insisted there were no reports that any of its employees were harmed in the incident, which took place while engineers were on site carrying out routine annual testing. The “small” leak was resealed quickly, said a spokeswoman for Young’s.
Ammonia is commonly used to refrigerate fish during processing, cool seawater, create ice and in cooling cold stores. The gas is known to cause nasal, throat and eye irritation, causing blindness and death in severe cases.
The Kilkeel site has since been declared safe to reopen by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, with Young’s intending to restart its production line later today.
“Our focus is on ensuring the safety and welfare of our team and continuing to provide our customers and consumers with great quality fish and seafood,” said the spokeswoman.
“We are currently liaising with the Fire and Rescue Service and implementing our investigation plan and cannot comment further until we have concluded our investigation.”
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