MARGAO
Leakage of medical oxygen from a tanker at the South Goa district hospital gave some tense moments to the authorities on Tuesday noon, leaving one person with minor injuries.
Prompt action by the firemen and the hospital security helped to plug the leakage and avert a disaster.
The incident occurred when the tanker loaded with medical oxygen, which had arrived from Kolhapur, was loading the oxygen tank at the district hospital.
Hospital Assistant security officer, Sagun Salelkar informed that the leakage incident came to light when a group of security men had gone near the tanker to find out why a truck was stuck up there. “It was at that time when we noticed the oxygen leakage and immediately alerted the fire personnel and tried to get the hose from the fire tender to extinguish the fire”, Salelkar said.
Bajirao Desai, who sustained minor injuries on the face, said when they were trying to find out the leakage, the nuts came out causing the leakage. The liquid also spilled on his face, leaving him with minor injuries.
Divisional Fire Officer, Nitin Raikar informed that it took around 30-40 minutes for the Margao fire brigade to bring the leakage under control. “Fortunately, there was no fire and we managed to plug the leakage. As a precautionary measure, we had requisitioned two more fire tenders at the site”, he said.
The Margao fire brigade has stationed a fire tender round the clock at the South Goa district hospital to attend to emergencies.
District Collector, Ruchika Katyal, IAS and Sub-divisional Magistrate, Jyoti Kumari, IAS rushed to the spot along with deputy Collector, Margao John Fernandes upon receiving information.
Collector Katyal said there’s nothing to worry since the oxygen leakage has been successfully plugged in the operation. “Everyone has worked to bring the leakage under control. I have no technical details, but the leakage has been brought under control”, she added.
The driver of the ill-fated medical oxygen tanker has said the nuts of the valve came off, causing the leakage of the oxygen when the process to fill up the hospital tank was underway.
The driver informed that the process of transferring the oxygen from the tanker to the district hospital tank had been going on for around 15-20 minutes when suddenly the nuts came off. “We could have immediately stopped the leakage if there was water available around. The operation was underway to fill up the hospital oxygen tank when the leakage occurred after around 15-20 minutes”, he added.
