Nineteen workers have been hospitalised following an ammonia leak at a poultry slaughterhouse run by Finnish food processing firm Atria near the city of Seinäjoki.
The hospitalised employees had mild respiratory symptoms, Raimo Jokisalo of Seinäjoki Central Hospital told Yle, adding that 30 employees in total had been exposed to the chemical due to the leak at the Nurmo plant.
"It was lucky that in this incident the symptoms were only very mild," Jokisalo said. "After all, ammonia is a strong irritant, especially to the respiratory tract, and at its most serious can even be life-threatening."
Rescue services in the region responded to a call from the plant at 5am on Monday morning, and chief executive officer of regional rescue services Harri Setälä told Yle that there was a strong pungent smell on the premises when the rescue teams arrived.
However, specialised divers quickly located the cause of the leak -- reported to be a fault in the plant's piping system -- closed the valves and ventilated the premises.
Repair work has already begun and will continue throughout Monday once the plant has been fully ventilated, Atria's vice-president of Technology Reijo Äijö said.
"Fortunately, leaks of this size are really rare. The plants are constructed in such a way that every effort is made to minimise the risks," Äijö said, adding that the leak posed no danger to the rest of the environment.
