Chlorine Gas Leaks from Corroded Canister in India's Mumbai, About 100 Fall Ill

Chlorine Gas Leaks from Corroded Canister in India's Mumbai, About 100 Fall Ill

At least 98 people fell ill Wednesday as chlorine gas leaked from a large, corroded canister at a port facility in Mumbai, emergency officials said.

The gas wafted through a college building in the vicinity, said Uday Tatkare, Mumbai's chief fire officer, CNN reports.

The leak took place just before dawn in the Sewri area of Mumbai, where a busy port shares space with residential buildings and a college, Maharashtra state Health Minister Vijay Kumar Gawit said.

Victims were taken to J.J. Hospital, with most of them suffering from burning eyes and respiratory problems, hospital head P.P. Lahane said.

Residential buildings in the area have been temporarily evacuated as a precaution, the minister said, The Associated Press reports.