Twenty people were transported to hospitals after a carbon monoxide leak at JBS Packing Monday. (Cesar Cardenas/The News)

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A carbon monoxide leak at JBS Packing sent 20 people to hospitals near and far Monday.

 

Some of the individuals had enough exposure to warrant more advanced treatment such as a hyperbaric chamber, Port Arthur Interim Fire Chief Robert Havens said. Those patients were sent to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Louisiana hospitals while those with lesser exposure were transported to the Medical Center of Southeast Texas, Baptist Hospital and Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital. 

 

Havens said no one was in critical condition or in danger of loss of life. 

 

The cause of the incident is thought to be from forklift exhaust due to contaminated fuel. PAFD was aided during the incident by the owners of JBS. 

 

Havens said fire department officials went back to the facility Tuesday morning and did not find any problems. The business is back open. 

 

The leak was called in at approximately 2:30 p.m. Monday at JBS Packing on Houston Avenue. The situation was thought to be one patient but PAFD found three patients and the count continued to climb to 13 by around 2:40 p.m. The final count was 20.

 

JBS Packing is a shrimp processing facility in Port Arthur.