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Ammonia leak in Cancun ice plant sees hundreds evacuated

Cancun, Q.R. — Personnel from the Directorate of Civil Protection in coordination with firefighters and police from Benito Juárez evicted hundreds from the area surrounding region 230 Wednesday after the report of an ammonia leak.

Employees from a nearby ice plant, Frost, requested assistance from la Dirección de Protección Civil after discovering a machine inside the plant had an ammonia leak. The request came in around 10:43 a.m.

Authorities, including 18 firemen and five Civil Protection personnel, arrived at the site and evacuated a 10-block radius which included several businesses, residents of 12 private homes and more than 400 students in two nearby schools for preventative ammonia poisoning.

The Cancun fire department confirmed that the leak happened in a 300 kilogram container of ammonia. Due to the leak, one member of the H. Fire Department of Cancun was transferred to a clinic for poisoning, while several others were treated on site by paramedics.