Chlorine leak injures 59 at Expo site

Heading near the Shanghai Expo site today? Might want to hold your breath. This from the International Herald Tribune, originally by way of AP and Xinhua:

SHANGHAI, China: Chlorine fumes injured 59 people, eight of them seriously, when a demolition worker broke a derelict tank at a construction site for Shanghai's 2010 World Expo, a doctor and reports said Monday.

The workers were dismantling an old solvent plant in the Pudong district of China's financial capital when the leak occurred, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

A doctor at nearby Shanghai Punan Hospital said 59 workers were brought in for treatment and eight were in serious condition. Like many Chinese officials, the doctor refused to give her name because she was not authorized to speak to media.

Local police refused to comment on the accident.

Chlorine fumes can cause severe respiratory damage if inhaled.

Shanghai is demolishing a wide swathe of former industrial land along both sides of the Huangpu River, which runs through the city, to make way for the 2010 Expo.

It just occurred to us that clumsy construction workers with sledge hammers are currently converting an old factory to lofts within spitting distance of Shanghaiist's apartment. We'll just be keeping our windows closed for a while.