Sligo factories evacuated

Hundreds of staff were evacuated from two factories in the Finisklin industrial estate in Sligo yesterday amid fears of a possible chemical explosion.

The Army was called in yesterday evening to deal with an incident at the Abbott Ireland Diagnostic Division's plant.

At lunchtime yesterday, 400 staff at the Abbot factory and workers at the nearby Avenue Mould Solutions were told to leave their buildings following an incident at the Abbott plant.

As the Army's bomb disposal unit undertook the delicate task of moving volatile chemicals from inside a warehouse at the plant, the area was sealed off.

There had been fears that if the chemicals ignited or spilled there could be an explosion. Three units of Sligo Fire Brigade, as well as its specialist chemical incident unit, spent several hours at the scene as gardaí established an exclusion zone around the plant.

Garda Insp Paul Cuttle said all precautions were being taken as in such situations it was better "to err on the side of caution" . Yesterday evening, a spokesman for the county council said that the chemicals had not in fact spilled, but it had been necessary to call in the Army to bring them outside to cool and control them.

Abbott confirmed that it had taken precautionary measures following concerns about pressure levels in four storage drums at the plant. It said that three drums which were located outside had been successfully depressurised by the fire brigade.