SINGAPORE – A HazMat team was deployed on Saturday evening (Feb 23) to contain an ammonia vapour leak in Ang Mo Kio.

In a Facebook post at about 10.20pm, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it responded to the incident at 7030 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 at about 8.20pm.

According to property site SRX, the address belongs to Northstar @ AMK, a factory building.

The SCDF found ammonia vapour being released from a leaked container with a malfunctioning valve on the sixth floor of the premises.

“Upon arrival, SCDF responders immediately performed vapour dispersion operations with a hosereel water spray to reduce the concentration of the released ammonia vapour,” it said.

About 50 people were evacuated. No injuries were reported.

In an update posted before 11pm, the SCDF said that its HazMat specialists had sealed the source of the leak, and that a water jet was used to decontaminate the affected area.

HazMat stands for hazardous materials.

HazMat detectors indicated that the ammonia vapour had completely dispersed, it added.

“The HazMat incident is confined within the premises,” the SCDF had said earlier.

“As a safety precautionary measure, all individuals were evacuated from the sixth floor of the premises.”

A photo posted by the SCDF on Facebook shows at least three officers wearing red full-body suits, gas masks and helmets handling a large, white canister.

A second photo shows SCDF vehicles at the scene.

In January last year, The Straits Times reported that four people had to be taken to hospital after an ammonia leak at a food factory in Jurong.  About 100 workers from the premises had to be evacuated.

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