Two people were sent to the hospital on Monday (29 June) morning after an ammonia leak was detected at an ice manufacturing plant in Jurong.
The incident caused multiple surrounding factories to be urgently evacuated, said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) in a Facebook post on the same day.
Source: Google Maps
SCDF said it had received a call for assistance from 11 Fishery Port Road at 11.45am on 29 June.
The address belongs to Jurong Marine Cold Storage, also known as JM Ice, an ice manufacturer and subletter of cold storage space for frozen food.
Source: Google Maps
SCDF personnel who arrived at the industrial premises detected ammonia within the compound.
An SCDF Hazardous Materials (HazMat) team was quickly deployed to initiate emergency mitigation operations.
As a safety precaution, the affected plant was evacuated immediately.
Personnel from the adjacent premises of 9 Fishery Port Road and 15 Fishery Port Road were also evacuated.
Members of the public were advised to stay away from the area.
HazMat specialists traced the leak to a pipe in a room within the premises, and shut off its supply valve, SCDF said in a subsequent update that afternoon.
This sealed the leak, with HazMat detector readings confirming that no further leaks had occurred.
Those evacuated were subsequently allowed to return to their respective premises.
However, two people from JM Ice were exposed to ammonia vapour, SCDF said.
They were conveyed to Singapore General Hospital.
No other injuries were reported.
Shin Min Daily News reporters who arrived at the scene at 1.40pm detected a pungent, acrid odour that hung heavily in the air.
The surrounding area was cordoned off, with some evacuated workers standing by the roadside watching the operations.
At least five SCDF emergency vehicles and two police cars had arrived, with SCDF personnel seen wearing gas masks and carrying oxygen tanks.
Liang Weikang (transliterated from Mandarin), a 27-year-old administrator from a factory opposite the incident site, told the Chinese daily that he received an alert to evacuate at about 12 noon.
SCDF arrived in one or two minutes, with a noticeable, unpleasant odour already beginning to spread by then.
A female employee of a factory opposite, who declined to be identified, said she was instructed by the police to evacuate at around 2pm.
However, she did not smell any significant odour at the time.
Mr Li Meicai (transliterated from Mandarin), a 70-year-old security guard at Jurong Marine Cold Storage, said he was scheduled to start his shift at 2pm but was denied entry due to the leak.
His colleagues told him that they heard a sound resembling an explosion from the ice plant.
“This is the first time I’ve encountered something like this. There’s toxic gas, so we can’t go in,” he maintained, adding that technicians and the management were later allowed into the compound.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.