Ammonia poisoning: Number of ill labourers rises to 74

Kundapur: According to the latest update, the number of labourers, who took ill as a result of the Ammonia liquid blast that took place in the Malpe Marine fish storage plant of Devalkunda near Hemmady under Katbelthur gram panchayat limits, which had faced protests even before its inception, has risen to 74.

Of the total affected people, 67 are women and 7 are male labourers and are presently being monitored in the ICU unit of Adarsha hospital in the town.

The admitted labourers are Malashree (22), Vinutha (24), Deepa (20), Manjula (19), Savita (23), Bhavani (24), Vidya (21), Netravati (23), Anita (23), Amrita (20), Rekha (20), Nagaratna (19), Chaitra (18), Radha (19), Bharathi (21), Vidya M (20), Pallavi (18), Revathi (34), Rekha K (25), Jayalakshmi K (23), Veda (19), Jyoti (19), Nagaratna (19), Supreeta (24), Poornima (19), Revathi (24), Sita (26), Nayana (23), Revathi (23), Ashvitha (20), Mangala (19), Suguna (28), Kalavati (24), Sumuthra (24), Laxmi (22), Deepa (19), Leelavati 20), Sharada (22), Sharada (23), Anita (21), Nethra (24), Preeti (18), Gauri (22), Padmavati (25), Chandrakala (19), Jyoti (22), Nivedita (20), Naveena (24), Kalpana (24), Shalini (18), Bhavani N (25), Vidya B (20), Nagina M R (23), Ranjini G (20), Anita B (25), Revati G (24), Deepa H (24), Mangala B (24), Nayana (24), Sumida (25), Shwetha S (21), Bhavani S (19), Pooja (21), Gulabi (26), Mahadevi (19), Divya (24), Nagaratna (20), Ramachandra (21), Manish Chand (18), Suresh (21), Anil (22), Deepak (18), Sumant (19) and Ruksha (18).

Apparently, the liquid ammonia used to freeze ice blocks blasted all of a sudden on the morning of Monday, August 12. Sub-divisional officer of Kundapur Madhukeshwar and tahsildar Tippeswamy have visited the hospital and are gathering information in connection to the incident.

The villagers here fiercely protested against the inception of the Malpe Marine fish storage plant which started two years ago. But the company started functioning nonetheless thanks to the apathy and negligence of the local administration and the people representatives. Now with the blast, there is another point for the locals to object the presence of this company here.