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GEORGE TOWN: Quick action by firefighters averted disaster when a container containing hydrochloric acid (HCL) fell and broke at a factory in Bayan Lepas on Friday (October 2).
According to the spokesperson for the state Fire and Rescue Department, 12 firefighters from the Bayan Baru fire station were dispatched to the factory upon receiving a distress call from the public at 1.08pm.
“When firefighters arrived at the scene, they found the container containing approximately one liter of HCL on the floor of a laboratory on the second floor of the factory building,” he said.
He said the operation commander then conducted an assessment in the laboratory measuring about 360 square feet prior to an operation to clean up the area that was contaminated with soda ash.
“A ventilation process was also done to clean the air from the HCL,” he said.
He said a total of 17 factory workers were sent to a nearby clinic and 16 of them had inhaled the acid fumes and another had been exposed to acid splashes.
All workers, however, are in stable condition.
The operation ended around 2:40 p.m.
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