The Navy sent 33 sailors to the hospital on Monday after a “potential” exposure to exhaust from a vessel’s engine.
The personnel were assigned to the USS Michigan at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington state, which has been docked at the shipyard since July 2019. They were performing maintenance, according to the Kitsap Sun. The sailors were sent to a local hospital for medical evaluation “out of an abundance of caution,” a Naval spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
“They were directed to a local hospital for evaluation following up potential diesel engine exhaust exposure. The Navy in the Submarine Force takes the health and safety of our sailors very seriously,” said Navy Mass Communications Specialist Rebecca Ives.
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Two sailors reported experiencing “mild symptoms of acute respiratory distress,” Ives said, but the 31 other sailors did not report any complications. All personnel have since been released from the hospital.
Ives said the potential exhaust exposure occurred on July 11 but was reported on July 12.
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The USS Michigan, commissioned in 1982, arrived at the shipyard in May 2019 after more than two years at sea. The vessel was dry-docked on July 9 that year.
