Six people were hospitalized in Ho Chi Minh City Friday after inhaling chlorine leaked from containers used to treat underground water but left unused for more than ten years, VnExpress reported.

 

Tuan, a resident living near the containers, said people started to get the smell from around 1 a.m. and around a hundred people in the neighborhood had to leave their houses as far as they could no longer bear it.

 

Rescuers had to wear gas masks to seal the leaks from the 50-kilogram metal containers with wet cloth and lime.

 

The containers were moved to another place in the morning to be disposed of later.

 

Tran Dang Duong, a local official, said the chlorine containers were put in use in 1998 to treat underground water supplied to the residents. But the area began to receive tap water several years later and the containers were abandoned.