18 in hospital after leak of gas used to kill rodents

Firemen from Omeath in Co Louth, monitor the MV Arklow Meadow, which remains cordoned off at Warrenpoint harbour (PA)

Eighteen people were being treated in hospital last night after toxic gas used to kill rodents escaped from a ship docked at a harbour in Northern Ireland.

The cargo on the MV Arklow Meadow at Warrenpoint, Co Down, is understood to have become wet and unstable. Authorities had to set up a 50m cordon around the area, with local residents being told to close their doors and windows.

The gas is believed to be aluminium phosphide, a pesticide used to kill small mammals such as moles and rodents. The MV Arklow Meadow is owned by Arklow Shipping, based in Arklow on Ireland’s east coast. A member of staff at the company, who did not identify himself, said the incident had been “blown out of all proportion”.

A Northern Ireland Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We have 18 patients. It is a chemical incident on a ship. Nine are en route to Daisy Hill Hospital and nine are at the scene and they will be transferred to Craigavon Area Hospital.”