Nitric acid spill requires evacuation of two floors of Ricardo Jorge institute
A chemical spill in a laboratory at the Ricardo Jorge Public Health Institute in Porto this morning caused one serious injury and four minor injuries, a Civil Protection source has confirmed.
According to the Porto Sub-regional Command, the alert was sounded at 11.33am.
A source from the Porto Sapper Fire Brigade said that the incident was caused by a “chemical spillage in the laboratory.
“There is one seriously injured person, who has been taken to São João Hospital, and four slightly injured people,” said the source.
Members of the Porto Fire Brigade, INEM, the Emergency Medical Vehicle from the Hospital de Santo António, Municipal Police and the PSP were still at the scene at 1pm.
Two floors evacuated
Speaking to journalists, commander of the Porto Sapadores Fire Brigade Carlos Marques said that the man considered seriously injured had burns to his face. The other four were victims of vapour inhalation.
“It was on the 5th floor, a container with 60% nitric acid was being handled and there was a spillage. There were vapours and burns on the face of the victim who was considered critical,” he said.
According to Carlos Marques, it was decided to evacuate the fifth and sixth floors of the building.
“Having collected all the material and decontaminated both the site and our staff, we are also measuring whether there are any traces of the hazardous material in question with a gas detector”, he said.
The Ricardo Jorge Institute is a national health entity under the Ministry of Health with self scientific, technical, administrative, and financial autonomy. During the pandemic it was the ‘go to’ source of reference for most decisions/ alerts.
Source: LUSA
