Eleven newborns were evacuated from the ICU following a gas leak on the first floor of the Maternity and Children's Hospital in Dammam Saturday. Col. Ali Al-Qahtani, spokesman of EP Civil Defense, said Civil Defense teams and chemical experts were sent immediately to the hospital to rescue the babies. Ten nurses faced respiratory distress and redness in the eyes after evacuating the babies. They were treated in the emergency unit. “Investigations are on to identify the causes of the accident,” Al-Qahtani said. Tareq Al-Ghamdi, spokesman of EP Health Affairs, said the accident took place at 4 A.M. early Saturday morning in the ICU. The evacuation was done in 10 minutes. ICU patients were taken to another section and no complications were registered, Al-Ghamdi added. All procedures took place according to the emergency plans approved by the hospital administration, he said. Work at the hospital and treatment programs were not disrupted. __
