PUTRAJAYA: More than a week and 748 cases later, the authorities are still baffled over the cause of the chemical pollution in Pasir Gudang.
The air quality readings in the area were found to contain high amounts of an “unusual gas” — methyl mercaptan, and acrylonitrile and acrolein.
Methyl mercaptan, is a colourless, flammable gas with a distinctive rotten egg or cabbage smell.
It occurs naturally in some foods (e.g. onions, radishes, asparagus, and some nuts and cheeses).
Acrylonitrile is a colourless, volatile liquid with a pungent, onion-like odour.
It is widely used in industry to produce rubber, resins, plastics, elastomers and synthetic fibres.
Acrolein is a colourless liquid with a piercing, acrid smell of burnt fat.
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (Mestecc) Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the presence of the gas was an anomaly, but the authorities could not establish the exact cause of the incident.
The Bakri member of parliament said this was because the 10 students who had suffered breathing difficulties had come from eight schools.
“On top of that, the presence of these gases was not detected in the patients’ blood and urine samples.
“Therefore, we can’t make a 100 per cent confirmation that there is a cause and effect link between the Pasir Gudang pollution and the earlier pollution of Sungai Kim Kim,” she told a press conference at the Health Ministry here today.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said, up to yesterday, a total of 748 cases of breathing difficulties were reported in Pasir Gudang, with 709 treated as outpatients while 39 required hospitalisation.
The Sungai Kim Kim incident which occurred in March has affected more than 6,000 residents. The fumes were later identified as being caused by the illegal dumping of chemicals into the river.
Two company directors, including a Singaporean, and a lorry driver from a used tyre processing factory were charged at the Johor Baru Court the same month with 15 offences under two environmental regulations.
Yeo said unsustainable development had affected the air, soil and river in Pasir Gudang.
She said Pasir Gudang had 2,005 licensed factories, of which 250 were chemical-based factories.
“Some high-risk factories have no physical buffer zone from residential areas and schools.
“Some schools are only 300m away from the high-risk industries,” she said, adding that the state government was laying plans for buffer zones.
“Buffers will be put in place as soon as possible for schools in high-risk areas.
“This is a wake-up call for us, the government, to start looking at these industrial areas, not just in Pasir Gudang but the entire country.”
Yeo said Mestecc would take other steps to address the issue, including building an automatic gas observation station so that chemical disaster cases could be detected immediately.
“Mestecc believes it will be able to follow through all of the plans before the end of the year.
“Mestecc will also hold a town hall session with all chemical industry players in Pasir Gudang on Monday, July 1,” she added.