The north’s electricity authority (Kib-Tek) on Tuesday afternoon denied there had been a chlorine gas leak at the Teknecik power station near Kyrenia, alleging that the report of a gas leak had been fabricated by trade unionists after the ruling coalition declared a planned strike of electricity workers illegal on Monday afternoon.

“While nothing happened between midnight and 8am, the strike was banned, and while statements were being made to the press, an attempt was made to evacuate the power station on the ground that an empty cylinder containing purified, non-toxic, non-flammable, and non-hazardous nitrogen gas had a leak in its valve,” it said.

It added that the reports of a chlorine gas leak constituted “nothing but an attempt to make the strike, which was banned by cabinet, happen in a different way”.

Then, it said it had been informed by Kyrenia’s Akcicek hospital that “no symptoms were found” among the four people who were hospitalised on Tuesday morning, and that all four people are in “good general health”.

It also said that the north’s fire brigade, civil defence and environment office have launched investigations into the matter, before insinuating that the gas may have been purposefully left on.

Additionally, it said it had been informed by the company responsible for the chlorine gas separation process at the plant that it had stopped its work at midnight and taken no further action until midday.

“However, it has been reported that someone or something interfered with the valves, and one valve was found open this morning,” it said.

Four people were hospitalised earlier in the day, with Kib-Tek workers’ trade union El-Sen leader Ahmet Tugcu telling newspaper Yeniduzen that those hospitalised were three Kib-Tek workers and one cleaner.

“We requested that the chlorine gas disposal tender be awarded to a reputable company. They reached an agreement with the company with which they had previously worked, which went bankrupt … The matter was even taken to court,” he said, adding that this tender “needs to be questioned”.

He also described the fuel being used to power the generators at Teknecik as “pirate fuel”, saying that “our demand is that they tell us which refinery the pirate fuel came from”, and that “no statement has been made on this matter to date”, before criticising Kib-Tek’s management for not checking in on the hospitalised workers.

“No one from Kib-Tek’s management has contacted us regarding the health of our fellow workers. There is no team at Teknecik to provide first aid. We have asked for this before, too. These people are putting their lives at risk to work here. Those in power do not care,” he said.

The incident comes after the north’s ruling coalition had on Monday afternoon issued a 60-day banning order on any strike action at the Teknecik power station after workers there had planned to embark on an indefinite strike beginning on Tuesday.

Tugcu had upon that announcement spoken of “deficiencies and malfunctions” at Teknecik, saying, “this situation poses a serious threat to occupational security, public safety, and service quality”.