<p>The employees, including 35 women staff, who were on the night shift on Friday felt uneasy inhaling a nasty smell fast diffusing within their centrally air-conditioned unit, triggering fears of an alleged gas leak. There are varying figures on the exact number of the staff affected.<br /><br />Police and official sources in Kancheepuram, the district headquarters, told Deccan Herald that several employees of the company Foxconn Indian Private Limited, situated along the Chennai-Bangalore national highway, complained of irritation and dizziness suddenly while at work on Friday night.<br /><br />As a precautionary measure everyone was asked to vacate the premises and initially 28 staff members affected were rushed to a private hospital at suburban Porur. They were all later discharged, even as scores of others checked in at hospital on Saturday.<br /><br />Preliminary enquiries reveal that the company had recently imported an equipment and when the consignment seal was opened, it was found to be infested with a lot of insects, sources said. Apparently, to quell them, the company officials had sprayed an insecticide that triggered the bad odour.<br /><br />“As the manufacturing unit is centrally air-conditioned, the insecticide smell had no escape route causing problems to the employees, but there is no cause for alarm as all those admitted are getting discharged quickly,” official sources said.<br /><br />Efforts to reach Foxconn officials were of no avail, as the company had briefly shut shop following the episode.</p>
<p>The employees, including 35 women staff, who were on the night shift on Friday felt uneasy inhaling a nasty smell fast diffusing within their centrally air-conditioned unit, triggering fears of an alleged gas leak. There are varying figures on the exact number of the staff affected.<br /><br />Police and official sources in Kancheepuram, the district headquarters, told Deccan Herald that several employees of the company Foxconn Indian Private Limited, situated along the Chennai-Bangalore national highway, complained of irritation and dizziness suddenly while at work on Friday night.<br /><br />As a precautionary measure everyone was asked to vacate the premises and initially 28 staff members affected were rushed to a private hospital at suburban Porur. They were all later discharged, even as scores of others checked in at hospital on Saturday.<br /><br />Preliminary enquiries reveal that the company had recently imported an equipment and when the consignment seal was opened, it was found to be infested with a lot of insects, sources said. Apparently, to quell them, the company officials had sprayed an insecticide that triggered the bad odour.<br /><br />“As the manufacturing unit is centrally air-conditioned, the insecticide smell had no escape route causing problems to the employees, but there is no cause for alarm as all those admitted are getting discharged quickly,” official sources said.<br /><br />Efforts to reach Foxconn officials were of no avail, as the company had briefly shut shop following the episode.</p>
