JOHOR BARU, Aug 24 — The Johor Fire & Rescue Department has identified the cause of a chemical spill in a Pasir Gudang plant of Petrochemicals (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd as a rupture of a tank containing styrene that released vapours.
Assistant Director of the Fire & Rescue Operations Division of the department, Senior Fire Superintendent I, Azmi Ab Rahim, said the spill had been stopped with foam and the situation was under control as of 9pm yesterday.
No one was injured in the incident.
Petrochemicals (Malaysia), in a statement, said a ruptured styrene monomer tank had released chemical vapours at about 5pm yesterday, triggering a strong chemical odour that had “spread around our neighbouring companies and residents”.
With the assistance of the Fire & Rescue Department, the Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) team and other relevant authorities, “we sprayed chemical foam and water to cool off the SM tank”, it said, adding that the counter measures reduced the chemical smell and it was contained within the compound by 8.30pm.
Azmi said the operation to stop the spill involved six personnel from the Pasir Gudang Fire & Rescue Station and eight members of the Hazmat team from the Larkin Fire & Rescue Station, who were assisted by Hazmat teams from Negeri Sembilan and Melaka as well as the police, Johor Department of Environment (DoE), Pasir Gudang City Council and Civil Defence Force.
He said the area around the factory was found to be safe and the spill was confined to the area of the tank.
As such, he said, the Fire & Rescue Department concluded its operation at 10am today.
Azmi said Johor DoE had installed air quality monitoring equipment in the surrounding residential area and the air quality reading was normal as of noon. — Bernama
