UPDATE: A FATHER and his two sons are clinging to life in hospital after they inhaled powerful gasses inside a storage tank on a farm east of Melbourne.
Dairy farmer Simon Coster, 49, was using ammonia to clean the inside of a storage tank at Cloverlea, near Warragul, when a chemical reaction starved him of oxygen shortly after 12.45pm yesterday.
His two sons, aged 19 and 25, also passed out after they rushed to help him, according to Network Ten.
Mr Coster was airlifted to The Alfred hospital in Melbourne, while his sons were flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
All three men have life-threatening injuries, the hospitals said.
Seven others including two police officers and paramedics were also injured during the industrial accident.
Air ambulance operations manager Paul Holman said the emergency unfolded after the men were overcome by a lack of oxygen.
He said the three men who were airlifted were ‘‘very sick’’. Three others had been driven to hospital in Warragul for treatment.
‘‘The remaining four also sought medical attention,’’ he said.
‘‘Those who weren’t flown from the scene are thankfully all stable and more affected by the smell than the gas itself.’’
Crews from the SES, CFA, Ambulance Victoria and police are at the scene and will remain at the dairy farm to decontaminate the area.
Worksafe Victoria says it will investigate and has sent a team to the site.
