Oxygen leaked from a medical gas carrier vehicle following a road accident in Aruppukottai on Monday.
An oxygen leak from a medical gas carrier vehicle following a road accident near Aruppukottai has kept fire and rescue services personnel on their toes since the early hours of Monday (March 10, 2025).
As the oxygen continued to leak from the vehicle until past noon, the firefighters, led by Virudhunagar District Fire Officer M. Chandrakumar, kept spraying water to cool the atmospheric temperature around the tanker.
A safety officer from a private company supplying emergency medical gas from Thanjavur was closely monitoring the situation, along with the firefighters.
The police said the gas carrier vehicle, with 16 tonnes of oxygen, was proceeding towards Thoothukudi to supply medical oxygen from Thanjavur. The driver, feeling sleepy, had parked the vehicle safely on the service road near Kanjanackenpatti junction on the Madurai-Thoothukudi highway.
However, Selvam, the driver of the truck, had reportedly dozed off and lost control of the vehicle, which was carrying palm leaves to Thoothukudi. The speeding truck then hit the gas carrier tanker from behind, damaging its valves at around 4 a.m. This led to the oxygen leak.
Upon being alerted, a fire tender from Aruppukottai fire station was rushed to the spot.
Mr. Chandrakumar said the officials allowed the oxygen to leak into the atmosphere to mitigate the danger. “We did not attempt to remove the truck, which had become entangled with the tanker, as any spark could have triggered a fire,” he added.
Oxygen leaked from the tanker in a thick, white, cloud-like form. The firefighters continued spraying water on it as a precautionary measure. Additional water tankers were pressed into service to supply water to the fire tender.
The safety officer of the private company supplying the emergency gas rushed to the spot from Thanjavur. The police said the gas was expected to be exhausted within a couple of hours.
Published – March 10, 2025 02:43 pm IST