Five students of SMK Guar Chempedak were admitted to the Yan Hospital yesterday due to inhalation of chemical fumes believed to be from a factory in Yan, Kedah.

One of the students, Nurul Izwarina Mohd Khorazi, 15, said she was at the school hall, together with other Form Three students, to attend a briefing at about 9.30am when she smelt a foul odour like that of a bleaching liquid.

“I felt dizzy and experienced shortness of breath. I told my friend about it she told me she also felt the same.

“Because I’m also asthmatic, I went to my classroom and took my medication and told the teacher about it,” she said when met at the hospital in Yan.

She said that several other students complained of nausea and were told to gather outside the hall and wear masks.

    

“There were nine of us including a male student who were affected the most. We were then taken to a clinic but were told to get a hospital treatment.

Five of us were admitted while the rest were give outpatient treatment,” she said.

Another student, Nor Zahirah Dzahir, 15, said she had the same experience when she was studying at Sekolah Kebangsaan Guar Chempedak in 2003.

“But at that time my condition was not serious and I was not admitted to the hospital,” she said.

A Kedah Health Department spokesman when contacted said the students were in a stable condition.

Company monitoring the situation

Meanwhile, Petronas Fertilizer Kedah Sdn Bhd, in a statement, said the company received reports from local residents as well as several schools around Guar Chempedak on the presence of ammonia gas.

It said that based on those reports, the incident lasted about 15 minutes.

The company’s emergency response team went to the location to monitor the situation and providing the necessary assistance, it said, adding that investigations were still ongoing.

- Bernama