Plant Ordered Closed Following Gas Leak in Thailand

BANGKOK (March 8) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - A petrochemicals plant in Thailand 's eastern province of Rayong was ordered closed for a month following Monday night's toxic gas leak, the Bangkok Post reported Wednesday.

The shut-down was ordered to allow for maintenance work, a manager of the industrial estate, which houses the plant, said, adding that the situation is now under control. Rayong is about 200 kilometers east of Bangkok.

One of the company's vice president was quoted as saying that the medical bills of the 200 people poisoned by the leak would be covered. The sickened people include workers of the plant and residents of a nearby village.

The company and Japanese experts are investigating the leak of carbonyl chloride from a ruptured hose, he said.

He admitted the company lacked adequate safety mechanism, but pledged that detector and gas monitoring system and an interlock for curtaining gas diffusion would be installed.

The plant is a joint venture between a Thai company and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co of Japan. It started producing polycarbonate in March, 1998, with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons.

The leak lasted for 40 minutes after a power blackout occurred in the plant. At least one worker of the plant is still in intensive care unit.

An official of the National Safety Council said the plant has a scrubber to absorb gas before it releases oxygen into the air, however, the rupture allowed too much gas to leak into the scrubber and the gas spread, causing a health hazard in the nearby communities.

Carbonyl chloride is an intermediate chemical used for producing polycarbonate plastic, the good grade plastic used for making compact disks, plastic equipment in laboratory and electronic appliances.

Carbonyl chloride is a kind of poison gas and can be used in industry under stringent controls. It is also used in the production of chemical weapons and was first used during the World War One by the Germans in 1915, when it was commonly known as phosgene.

But an official of the pollution control department said the real problem was that the plant is too close to residential areas.