2 jailed for SilkAir chemical leak

2 jailed for SilkAir chemical leak

SINGAPORE (AP): Two people were to be jailed for five months and two months in Singapore in connection with a chemical leak aboard a SilkAir flight from Singapore to Indonesia, a court spokesman said on Wednesday.

The two cargo shippers pleaded guilty to failing to disclose that the 20-kilogram chemical drum they shipped on the flight contained a potentially dangerous material, styrene monomer, Subordinate Court spokesman Glen De Souza said.

The pilot of the Fokker 70 passenger flight noticed an "unpleasant smell" on the flight deck moments before the plane landed in the Indonesian city of Pekanbaru, SilkAir spokeswoman Corinth De Cotta said.

Chemical fumes were leaking from a drum of styrene monomer wrongly labeled "spare parts" in the plane's cargo hold on the Oct. 9, 1998 flight, De Cotta said.