An ammonia leak at a Vito ice-cream factory in Crawford resulted in more than 210 factory workers and schoolchildren being rushed to four hospitals in Cape Town on Wednesday morning.
Children from two primary schools in the area, Habibia Primary School and Belthorn Primary School, suffered discomfort to the eyes, sore throats, upset stomachs and experienced difficulty breathing, said principal Abubakr Jardine, from the Belthorn primary.
He told the Mail & Guardian Online: “When we got to school this morning I smelt something in the air like tear gas. There was no wind to blow anything away. [The air] was very calm.”
He soon realised that the smell was not tear gas, but ammonia. Jardine said 27 pupils between the ages of nine and 11 were taken to a day hospital in Cape Town and officials were at hand to assist.
Dr Shaheen de Vries from the city’s emergency services told the South African Press Association that a total of 130 patients from the ice cream factory were rushed to different hospitals at 1pm.
“About 80 pupils from the neighbouring schools and a number of other affected people were also taken to hospital.”
He said all patients were in a stable condition and no serious cases were reported.
Manager for the city’s disaster-management centre, Wilfred Solomons, told the M&G Online that the fire brigade responded to a call at 7.34am and on arrival confirmed an ammonia leak.
“One of the seals was broken on one of the cylinders and the fire brigade covered it with their equipment, [and immediately sealed] the leak and the area where the emission took place,” he said.
Shortly after the area was sealed, “disaster management ordered an evacuation of the buildings around the area, including some of the residents in the area — 200m from the incident,” said Solomons.
He described the scene as “normal” and not chaotic and said most workers and children were admitted to the Constantiaberg, Gatesville, Claremont and Vincent Pallotti hospitals in Cape Town.
A worker in the factory owned by Vito, who did not want to be named, said everything was back to normal in the afternoon: “We are all sitting here.”
The worker described the smell of the ammonia as “strong” in the morning and said they all noticed it immediately. The ammonia is used for “everything in the factory”, including freezing the ice cream and in the boilers, added the worker.
Vito management was not available for comment.