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Factory workers battle for life
2007-05-14 09:05:51
By Adam Ihucha, Arusha
Six workers with the Arusha-based textile mill, Sun - flag Tanzania Ltd, are fighting for their lives at Mount Meru Hospital after inhaling a deadly poisonous gas at their workplace.
The mill`s Human Resources Officer, Haroun Mahundi and Mount Meru Hospital Medical In-charge, Dr. Omar Chande, confirmed about the incident to The Guardian yesterday.
According to the officials, a total of 12 female workers on Friday fell unconscious while packaging impregnated mosquito nets, ready for export.
Reports have it that conditions of six out of twelve victims were so critical that they had to be rushed to Mount Meru Hospital.
Hospital Doctor In-charge Dr. Omar Chande said his subordinates had been working overtime to save lives of the six unconscious ladies.
According to Dr. Chande, casualties admitted to Mount Meru Hospital’s female wing, ward number six, were found to have been victims of some `poisonous inhalation`.
Reached for comments, police in Arusha said they were completely unaware of the incident, as the company administration had not reported the matter.
`I have to tell you the truth. I am absolutely unaware,` said Arusha Acting Regional Police Commander Wenceslaus Magoha.
This reporter visited Mount Meru Hospital yesterday and found six out of the twelve factory victims lying on hospital beds.
These were: Wella Mkumbo (29), Mwashamba Hamad (40), Mariam Buko (41), Agnes Samwel (23), Elizabeth Didas (31) and Ethropia Wilbard (32).
The other six were reportedly treated and released.
One of the health personnel who preferred anonymity said that the accident suggested that the victims were handling the freshly sprayed treated nets without protective gear such as gloves and masks.
`Reading between the lines, the chemical-laden gases took their toll on the helpless workers while packing the mosquito nets into the cartons without protective kits,` health experts suggested.
The Unga Limited factory victims themselves had no idea on what had actually transpired until they found themselves on hospital beds.
Sun-flag Human Resources Officer; Haroun Mahundi confirmed the accident, but he was not certain on whether the victims on that material day had worn protective gear or not.
`You and I were not there during the disaster, so I cannot tell exactly if the workers wore masks or not,` Mahundi said, adding: `We normally provide protective devices to them, if they chose not to wear them at their own risk, then what could we have done?`
However, he said such accidents were rare.
Sun-Flag (T) Limited owns three plants, one located at Unga-Limited suburb, another at Njiro in Arusha, Tanzania and the third one in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
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