SINGAPORE: Three workers were decontaminated and taken to hospital after an ammonia leak occurred at a meat supplier office near Boon Lay.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to an ammonia leak incident at 1 Fishery Port Road at about 11.40am on Friday (Jan 26).



About 100 workers were evacuated prior to SCDF's arrival.

Aside from the three who were sent to hospital, Channel NewsAsia understands that there is at least one more employee who is experiencing chest pains and nausea.

The facility is owned by NCS Cold Stores and is used to store food produced from Ben Foods, Fong Hsiang Enterprise and S.I Samy.

NCS Cold Stores Finance & Admin Manager Salim Anwar said: "Some of (the employees) are affected. They vomited, felt nauseous and had chest pains. Just now, one more lady said she had chest pains.



Mr Salim added that the three employees taken to hospital were vomiting and had experienced giddiness.

According to Ben Foods' website, the company distributes and markets a wide range of food products under its own proprietary brands, including Cowhead and Farmland.

Foo Hsiang Enterprise is a supplier of seafood, and S.I Samy is a supplier of fresh and frozen meat.

Employees Channel NewsAsia spoke to said the food produce were not affected by the leak.

SCDF said the leak happened within the ceiling of a chiller room on the first floor. The leak was shut off by the company before the SCDF arrived.

SCDF said it decontaminated the three workers by washing them down with water. The workers were then taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in conscious and stable conditions.

In an update at about 3.40pm, SCDF said that HazMat specialists in protective suits had detected low levels of ammonia in the immediate perimeter outside the building.

The specialists were "working to access the concealed ammonia piping", SCDF said in a the Facebook post.

The neighbouring premises are not affected and there were no further reported injuries, it added.

The SCDF said in another update at 9.05pm that "mitigation operations of the ammonia leak incident" were still ongoing .

The source of the leak has been traced to a main distribution pipe. However, it is not easily accessible as it is installed within a metal plate ceiling and further concealed by layers of insulation materials, SCDF said.

The concentration of the ammonia vapour within the affected area has also diminished considerably, according to SCDF.

As an added precaution, however, three water curtains - which are designed to suppress any residual ammonia vapour from escaping beyond the affected area - were also deployed within the premises, SCDF said.

"It is expected to be an extended operation," SCDF added.

This is the second gas leak that NCS Cold Stores has encountered. The previous incident happened about 10 years ago at another facility at 9 Fishery Port Road.

Following that incident, the company engaged a fire safety manager as a precautionary measure.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Wong)