Decin, North Bohemia, May 21 (CTK) – The second of the two men hospitalised after a phenol leak in the chemical plant Chemotex in Decin in April has died in hospital, Ivo Chrastecky, spokesman of the hospital’s operator, told CTK on Monday.
The first victim died shortly after leak.
“During this past weekend, the patient had repeated failures of the functional systems. As a result of this, his condition sharply deteriorated and, sadly, the man died,” Chrastecky said.
The case is being investigated by regional police investigators on the grounds of suspicion of general endangerment due to neglect. The police, however, have not ascertained the cause of the accident.
“We have commissioned professional opinions from experts in the domain of identifying causes of industrial accidents,” regional police spokeswoman Veronika Hysplerova has told CTK.
The police did not want to estimate on how long the investigation would take.
The accident happened on April 26 in the Chemotex chemical plant, which does business in the sphere of industrial chemistry and cosmetics. The company uses phenol in the production of special chemical substances.
The leak occurred when the substance was pumped.
A total of 17 people inhaled the substance or were burned by it. It did not reach the sewerage system nor the surface waters and did not extend beyond the chemical plant.
The accident is also being investigated by the Office of Labour Inspection.
