Wren Road, Dagenham: Chemical leak: Seven people in hospital

At around 10pm last night (August 11), emergency services flooded Wren Road in Dagenham as people were evacuated from their homes following reports of people struggling to breathe.

London Ambulance Service called its hazardous area response team as the problem was reportedly caused by a chemical called palytoxin.

Palytoxin is released by corals in an aquarium and can cause respiratory problems and possibly death.

Rescue workers in protective suits were on site while houses in the area were cordoned off.

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We were called at 9.46pm on 10 August to reports of an incident at a residential address in Wren Road.

“We have dispatched a number of resources including ambulance crews, an incident commander and members of our Hazardous Area Response Team (HART).”

“We responded together with colleagues from the London Fire Service.

“We treated seven patients and took them all to the hospital.”