The atmosphere was visibly subdued in the emergency room of IU Health Goshen Hospital Friday afternoon as approximately 10 employees of Benteler Automotive factory waited to be seen by hospital personnel after exposure to an undetermined chemical at the facility caused many workers to fall ill.
According to IU Health Goshen Hospital officials, as of 3 p.m., all 24 workers from Benteler and Flair Interiors who were taken to the hospital Friday with inhalation symptoms — shortness of breath, headache and nausea — from the chemical leak had been treated and released.
Benteler’s management also canceled its first shift at around 11 a.m. because employees were still becoming ill.
Goshen Fire Department personnel were first alerted to a possible gas leak at Benteler at approximately 9 a.m. Friday.
Fire crews quickly discovered the issue was not a gas leak.
Assistant Fire Chief Jim Ramer said the fumes were eventually found coming from a Vactor truck. The truck, essentially a large vacuum, was working outside of the main building but under a covered area.
“It was being used to get sludge out of a pit,” Ramer said Friday evening. “It apparently had residue from a previous job, and with the air in the tank, as they were using it fumes made their way into the building.”
Firefighters reported that the smell was “oily” and that it possibly spread through the air conditioning system.
After crews completed two sweeps of the building and everything seemed normal, workers were allowed back into the factory.
Fire officials said they tested the air for everything they could and nothing registered.
At the hospital
Diana Metzler, a Benteler Automotive employee from Goshen who was working in the factory at the time of the call, was among the first to feel the effects of the chemical.
“It was like a sudden smell coming through the doors, like rotten eggs, and then the next thing I know everybody’s going outside,” Metzler said, her voice ragged and noticeably strained from the exposure. “We were out there for probably about an hour and a half before they said it was clear to go back in. So we started going back in, and then they sent us out again. I think they sent us out three times before they finally said ‘That’s it.’ I just got word a few minutes ago that they closed first shift and sent everybody home.”
According to Ramer, work resumed as normal with the second shift of employees Friday. All of the emergency responders left by noon.
Lordes Quecada, a fellow Benteler employee from Goshen, said exposure to the chemical appeared to happen very quickly, causing headaches, nausea and fainting spells among many of the workers in the facility at the time.
“We were working, and then suddenly we smelled something very bad, like some kind of gas, and people started getting headaches and feeling like they would throw up,” Quecada said. “For some it happened slower, and some really fast. Some people even started passing out. It was a lot of people.”
Staff writers Sam Householder and Amanda Gray contributed to this report.
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The Goshen Fire Department investigated a chemical leak at Benteler Automotive Friday that sent 24 people to the hospital. SAM HOUSEHOLDER | The Goshen News
Fumes at Benteler send 24 to hospital
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