PASIR GUDANG, Aug 29 — The Johor government is doing their best to identify the origins of the noxious odour which caused 33 pupils from SK Taman Pasir Putih here to fall ill yesterday,

Johor Local Government, Urban Wellbeing and Environment Committee chairman Tan Chen Choon said efforts to identify the source of the contamination by authorities have been complex.

He said his office and the relevant agencies will make every effort to eliminate all possible causes that led to the incident.

“In addition to that, the Johor Department of Environment (DoE) director and the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council (MPPG) engineer together with myself have conducted an inspection at the sewage plants near SK Taman Pasir Putih this morning.

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“I have directed MPPG to check the inlet and outlet parameters of all sewage plants under its maintenance regularly so that action can be taken immediately if the readings do not meet the prescribed standards,” said Tan in a statement today.

Yesterday, he was reported to have said that the stench causing the air contamination was believed to be from a sewage treatment plant near SK Taman Pasir Putih.

Tan, who is also the Jementah assemblyman, assured the public that the Johor government will continue to monitor and tighten enforcement throughout the Pasir Gudang area.

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He said that to date the situation is under control, while air quality readings at the school remain as recorded yesterday.

“Despite containing the situation, we have taken steps to resume the monitoring and integrated enforcement throughout the Pasir Gudang area involving various agencies,” said Tan.

SK Taman Pasir Putih has a total of 1,119 pupils with two school sessions.

In June, 15 pupils from the nearby Sekolah Agama Taman Mawar and SK Pasir Gudang 4 were treated after suffering breathing difficulties and vomiting.

This follows a second bout of air pollution in Pasir Gudang following the major pollution incident in March where more than 4,000 people, mainly children, fell ill after the toxic fume incident in Sungai Kim Kim.

The fallout from the incident also saw the temporary closure of 111 schools in the Pasir Gudang district.