Sharjah: Authorities are searching for a man who sold gas cylinders to a scrap company where a gas leak blanketed Industrial Area 3 sending 80 people to hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
By midday Thursday, police units had blocked access to traffic on the street near the incident site, but were allowing pedestrians through. Shops were open for business as usual.
As many as 54 of those requiring medical care were workers at Al Mushtaq Scrap factory in Industrial Area 3.
Dr. Eisa Al Moa’almi, Head of emergency department at Al Kuwaiti Hospital, told Gulf News that six of the workers — including five Pakistanis and one Bangladeshi — were still hospitalised in serious condition on Thursday.
Sharjah Police have destroyed the gas cylinders as a safety measure to prevent any further gas leaks.
The incident is believed to have been caused by illegal cutting of gas cylinders to be sold as scrap.
Brigadier Abdullah Al Suwaidi, Director General of Sharjah Civil Defence, said that “initial investigations found the leak was due to illegal cutting of the gas cylinders and they were storing the cylinders in an inappropriate place.”
The municipality and Ministry of Environment and Water is investigating to determine the environmental damage caused due to the gas leakage.
Ameen, a young Bangladeshi cafeteria worker, said he was rushed to University Hospital Sharjah after being exposed to gas fumes at around 3pm on Wednesday.
“I was returning from a food delivery when I saw light orange gas in the air rushing towards me. As soon I smelt it, I felt dizzy and was about to faint. It smelt like Clorox [a brand of bleach]. My chest felt tight. I couldn’t ride my motorbike and tried to walk back to the cafeteria. When I coughed, I noticed a little blood,” Ameen added.
He said upon seeing his condition, his colleagues called the manager who in turn called the ambulance service.
“I still feel sick. I have a headache and my chest feels heavy,” Ameen said on Thursday afternoon.
Other workers in the area also said they had been exposed to a “Clorox-like” smell. A grocery cashier on the cordoned off street, who did not give his name, said first responders had arrived in the afternoon and taken “a few people” by ambulance.
