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The Kamchatka regional transport Prosecutor’s Office and specialists from Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Situations started an inspection into the Tomi Maru 53 trawler which experienced an ammonia leak on Thursday. The high ammonia levels resulted in one death and four poisonings in the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

The leak occurred on board the vessel which was docked in the port in the morning, resulting in two of the five tons of ammonia contained within the ship being released into the atmosphere. One member of the vessel’s crew died on the spot, another four were taken to the hospital to be treated for poisoning. Their condition is reported as serious, television channel ORT said.

With the ammonia concentration 15 times higher than the maximum permissible amount, people from the port and nearby residential houses were evacuated and local schools and kindergartens were closed.

The ship was tugged to Avachinsky Bay a safe distance from the town where the hole in the ammonia container was covered and the entire hold sealed. The emergency team created a ‘water curtain’, a fine spray of water surrounding the leak which absorbs the escaping ammonia, to stop the spread of the fumes into the town.

As of Friday, the concentration of ammonia had returned to normal, Kamchatka’s Department for Emergency Situations reported. Specialists continue to test air samples.

The Prosecutor’s Office is considering launching a criminal investigation into the incident.

The Japanese vessel Tomi Maru 53 was arrested under court order for poaching in Russian territorial waters this January and since then has been docked in the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.