Canada’s second-largest container shipping terminal closed following what authorities at the Port of Prince Rupert described as an “incident” Sunday morning.
DP World, the company that owns the container terminal, said the incident took place at 5 a.m. PT. A spokesperson said 11 workers had to get medical treatment at the hospital with symptoms of respiratory and eye irritation. They have all since been released.
Little information was released about what happened.
“The workers are okay,” said Robert Ashton, president of the International Longshore Workers Union. Ashton said he didn’t know the nature of the incident, adding there is an investigation.
DP World said it suspended operations and evacuated the premises until it was able to complete air quality testing on site. It said an external industrial hygienist also conducted on-site assessments and the site was declared safe by 4:30 a.m. Monday.
