80 hazardous cylinders in Mumbai port premises

The National Disaster Response Force, which is undertaking neutralisation of chlorine gas from cylinders at Mumbai Port Trust the gas leakage incident, said 80 more hazardous gas cylinders were found in the MPT premises in south Mumbai.

Among the 136 cylinders lying in the MPT since 13 years -- one of which leaked on July 14 -- nearly 100 cylinders contained chlorine gas, the NDRF said.

Earlier, the MPT had claimed that among the 136 containers, only six cylinders contained gas and one of them had leaked.

"MPT officials told us that there are another 80 more cylinders, with small quantity of hazardous gas, inside the premises. Initially, they said there were 136 cylinders and only six of them contained chlorine gas. And one of the six leaked last week," said Shahbuddin Ahmed, assistant commandant of NDRF.

"But now they say there are 80 more containers which were found in two different locations in the MPT premises," he added.

This was revealed by MPT to the NDRF in a meeting held recently between them.

"We have degassed over 85 containers. It would take another few days to neutralise the remaining 15 cylinders," he said.

Later, they will undertake the neutralisation work of the newly found 80 cylinders, Ahmed added.

Meanwhile, an enquiry report by the MPT into the chlorine gas leakage incident is expected to be ready by next week, officials said.