Poison panic as two injured in chemical leak at swimming pool part-owned by Olympic champ Rebecca Adlington
SWIMMERS have been gripped with panic after a horror chemical leak at a pool part-owned by Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington OBE.
The leak injured two people this morning at the pool in Oldbury, West Midlands, which was opened by the 34-year-old double gold medallist just six weeks ago.
Paramedics and firefighters rushed to the scene and the facility, which is called Swim!, was evacuated after a gas cloud formed as the chemicals reacted with the pool water.
A person was hospitalised, while a second was treated for breathing difficulties at the scene.
The building remains closed and is being ventilated by the West Midlands Fire Service.
They confirmed that the cloud had been contained within the building and hadn’t escaped into the local atmosphere.
A specialist response team also used air monitoring equipment to check that the site is safe for public use.
Incident commander Andrew Shakespeare said: “The incident involved a chemical leak within the plant room of the swimming pool.
“Ten people were evacuated, with two people complaining of breathing difficulties.
“The leak was contained to the building and posed no risk to the public.
“Our teams are ventilating the building and our specialist officers are using air monitoring equipment to make sure the area is safe.”
Jake Bird, a spokesperson for Swim! Oldbury, said: “We’d like to thank the fire service and paramedics for their attendance this morning after the unfortunate accidental mixing of a small amount of incompatible chemicals in our plant room.
“We can assure all of our customers that no one was hurt as a result of this minor incident and that our venue remains safe to use.”
Ms Adlington, who won two golds in the pool at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, retired in 2013 but has been a pundit for Olympic coverage in recent years.