According to police inspector P L Sadashiv of the Vashi police, the problem began on Friday at around 1 pm. Residents of Paune MIDC area began complaining of severe irritation and itching in their eyes. Some also suffered from swelling, inflammation and giddiness. Until Friday afternoon, some 44 people had been affected and were admitted in the Vashi Mahanagarpalika Labour Hospital. The number of those affected rose to 125 on Saturday afternoon, sources claimed. Even as 62 people were discharged after first aid and preliminary treatment, 63 people continued to remain in the hospital. The gas emission has mainly affected people's eyes and breathing. According to Dr Nagarajan, the hospital superintendent, none of the patients admitted were in a serious condition.

Paune-Mahape is an industrial belt in Navi Mumbai. ``It was not known which factory had emitted the gas since there are several factories in the region,'' Sadashiv told The Indian Express. However, senior officials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) who inspected the Vashi MIDC belt and detected the source of pollution to be `Star Chemicals', one of the main chemical manufacturing and processing unit in the MIDC belt. It was found that the leakage was a fallout of an excess gas pressure that developed in the factory on Friday afternoon.