CHENNAI: After being alerted that one of the women workers who died in the ammonia gas leak at a seafood processing unit in Tiruvallur was using a false identity, the district administration and other officials are verifying the identities of all workers who were affected by the incident on June 21.
The detailed investigation by multiple departments came after a preliminary probe indicated that at least some of the workers were minors, and the agent who brought them from their native villages in other states may have forged identities to show them as adults.
Meanwhile, the toll in the gas leak at the St Peter and Paul Seafood Export’s processing unit located at Kannigaipair-Manjangaranai near Periyapalayam went up to 10 after the death of yet another woman. All the deceased in the incident are women, eight of them from Odisha and two from Assam – at least as per the identification documents that were given to the officials here.
In all, 83 persons were affected by the leak. Of them, 68 are currently undergoing treatment and five have been discharged. Health officials said 17 patients are on ventilator support, 21 are receiving oxygen therapy and 30 others are in stable condition under observation.