LAKEWOOD — Thirty-four people suffered dizziness, shortness of breath and chest pains after a gas leak at an industrial food-freezing company this afternoon, authorities said.
The victims of the leak were all employees at Cuisine Innovations, a flash-freezing food company on Lehigh Avenue, Lakewood Fire Chief Todd Stark said..
The cause of the leak of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, which was reported at 12:45 p.m., has not yet been determined, the chief said.
All 34 victims were taken to area hospitals, including nearby Kimball Medical Center, for evaluation, Stark added.
Twenty-one people suffered mild exposure to "nitrogen oxide" and were taken to Ocean Medical Center in Toms River and Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune after the industrial park mishap, said Rob Cavanaugh, a spokesman for Meridian Health System, which owns both hospitals.
“It was a very low-risk exposure,” said Cavanaugh. “They were taken just as a precaution, and some of them are already being released.”
Members of the Berkeley Township Haz-Mat team and Lakewood police department responded to the call for aid at the industrial park on Lehigh Avenue in Lakewood shortly after the incident, officials said.
The exposure happened in the 100 block of Lehigh Avenue, according to Lt. Joseph Goertz of the Lakewood police.
Public listings for the industrial park show Cuisine Innovations and another company named Spartex are located in the complex. A representative for Spartex said the incident did not happen at his facility.
One law enforcement source described the incident as a "chemical spill."
The Ocean County Office of Emergency Management declined to comment, and calls to Berkeley Haz-Mat were not returned.
Cuisine Innovations employees and management declined comment.
Star-Ledger staff writers MaryAnn Spoto and James Queally contributed to this report.