WIND GAP, Pa. – Evacuation orders for about 5,000 people in northeastern Pennsylvania remain in effect even as authorities say the leak of a hazardous chemical has been contained.
Authorities say a tanker truck carrying more than 16 tons of hydrofluoric acid overturned early Saturday near Wind Gap, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia.
Two recent cases of suicide by hazardous chemicals prompted author August Vernon and Red Hat Publishing to develop a set of guidelines for first responders to consider when approaching a scene that could involve suicide and hazardous materials.
The two cases involved men in their 20s who sealed themselves inside a vehicle with tape to prevent the gas from escaping. The household chemicals mixed together produce a flammable, noxious gas and cause victims to go unconscious and eventually suffer heart failure.
Government safety investigators canceled a public briefing about an August 28, 2008 explosion that killed two persons at a chemical plant in Institute, West Virginia after operators of the plant said that public discussion of the accident could jeopardize “sensitive security information.”
Bayer CropScience, which runs the plant, told the U.S. Chemical Safety Board that relevant information about the plant is protected from public disclosure under the terms of the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, as interpreted by U.S. Coast Guard regulations.
The Board, which is an independent federal agency that investigates industrial accidents, canceled the March 19 public meeting while it seeks to evaluate the Bayer secrecy claims. See “Board Cancels Hearing Under Bayer Pressure” by Ken Ward, Jr., The Charleston Gazette, February 25, 2009.
On their face, the Bayer secrecy claims do not seem well-founded.
BHOPAL, Madhya Pradesh, India — In the dim light of her two-room shack opposite the site of one of the world's worst industrial disasters, the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984, Leelabai Ahirwar delivers a quiet account of the event that ruined her life.
“I myself am still affected by the gas,” the 45-year-old mother of four says. “I suffer from chest pains, and I often feel like I'm about to die. But my children are worse off. My daughter is anemic and her body swells up mysteriously, and my son, Jagdish, never grew properly, so he looks like he is only 14 years old, even though he is almost 22.”
By DON BEHM Germantown -- A malfunction of heating, cooling or ventilation equipment does not appear to be the cause of the Jan. 15 release of a chemical inside the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Appleton Ave. that forced an evacuation of the store and sent nearly 50 people to area hospitals for treatment of respiratory problems, Village Police Chief Peter Hoell said.
The possible intentional release of an unidentified substance inside the store remains the focus of a large-scale criminal investigation, Hoell said in an interview last week.
Both the FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting Germantown police in what he described as "an extremely active" investigation.
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