Palco incident

The Palco incident

Deformed frog, as seen in the newspaper Isla Neua
Native name	Morto de las ranas
Jackian name	Death of the frogs
Date	June 4, 1977 (1977-06-04)
Location	Palco, Menora de Sur
Publication bans	Rakeo

The Palco Incident, otherwise known as Death of the frogs was an event over the course of 1977 and 1978 where a unreported unknown chemical spill poisoned both residents and frogs of Palco, Rakeo.

Incident

On 4 June, a worker at the Rikardo-Civerts Polysynthetics chemical plant was filling a 2000 liter tank bound for Jinosia with a pesticide-solvent mixture. After filling each container, a second worker was due to inspect the seals on the tanks to check for leaks or defects. The container passed through the inspection process without any recorded defects, and was subsequently moved into a railyard.

When it was being loaded, a cap came loose and a small quantity of the pesticide was spilled. Both workers quickly left the area, and notified their supervisor regarding the incident. The workers and their supervisor returned to the site of the spill and the now stuck pesticide container.

As they worked to safely dislodge the the container from the container, they failed to notice a secondary leakage on the container. As the amount of spillage increased, a cloud of solvent was created and spread outward. A spark, believed to be from an idling engine nearby caused the mixture to ignite.

The two workers and their supervisor were all injured by the blast, but at least one made it to a alarm based on the site, raising an alert for the railyard's onsite fire containment group (put into place after a similar incident in 1969), who quickly moved to put out the now burning container. As they sprayed the container with water, up to 130 kilograms of toxic pesticide was dispersed in the local watershed.

It was not required by law for the incident to be recorded or reported. As the workers injuries did not qualify as sufficiently dangerous, the event was written off, the now broken container was set aside, and the night shift was tasked with cleaning up the area.

Aftermath

However, in the next couple months, a number of odd cases of ataxia began appearing at Palco's hospital, all orginating from the same watershed as the orginal RCP-linked railyard. As government scruntiny intensified, a team of investigators were sent to the railyard. After concluding in their report that the company was likely responsible for the mystery illness, the Stratocratic Authority of Menora de Sur decided not to release the report, a decision believed by one of the investigators to have been motitavated by a bribe.

Over the next year, more cases of Palco-Related Ataxia (PRA) were noted by the hospital, and local papers began to report the illness. At this point, a publicition ban was put in place by the regional government.

But as the chemical spread through the waterways, more and more cases of deformed frogs began to be reported, which was quickly picked up as a story by the national media, even getting into the international news.

Arrests

Five individuals employed by the RCP were arrested

• Henriko Morico, CEO
• Charles Venrik, vice president
• Anav Rodriguez Ava, supervisor

Two government officials were arrested

• Sena Danval
• Karl Henryfilo