More than 50 people, including four children, have been admitted to the NMMC Hospital at Vashi on Tuesday morning after they complained of breathlessness following gas leakage at Sheetal Cold Storage in Pawane village. The incident occurred at around 3 am, sources said. Three fire officers were also affected by the gas leakage and have been admitted to the hospital.

All the patients are out of danger and most of the people suffered from vomiting and respiratory problems, Dr Arti Kajrolkar from NMMC hospital said.

Vijay Rane, fire officer from Vashi said that there were no major casualties since they took prompt action in stopping the leakage. A case has been registered with Turbhe Police Station and investigations are on. Terming the incident as unfortunate, Iqbal Mehta, owner of Sheetal Cold Storage said that he had taken all the necessary precautions and will see to it that such thing is not repeated again.

First mayor Sanjeev Naik, who visited the affected persons at the hospital, said "The person responsible for the incident should be punished. It would have been serious had prompt action not been taken by the authorities."

Meanwhile, one of the affected persons Rajesh masker, an eighth standard student said, "I had my exams on Tuesday and had to miss it since I suddenly started vomiting since morning."

Kartiki Shastry/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication