BUTTERWORTH: Four women employees of a bank here were overpowered yesterday by what appeared to be leaked gas, according to the Penang Fire and Rescue Department.
The staff of the bank in Taman Selat experienced teary eyes and had difficulty breathing, said its operations officer, M Vijayan.
They were attended to by medical personnel who were rushed there in an ambulance from the Seberang Jaya Hospital following the incident at 10.44am, Vijayan told reporters at the scene.
He said the a Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) team conducted an examination and tested the air quality at the bank and adjacent premises but did not find the source of the gas.
“The gas could have been blown there from a faraway place,” he said.
One of the employees, Zuraida Ramli, said she smelt gas and her eyes began to tear up.
“We thought gas had escaped from the air-conditioning system but it was still there after we switched off the air-conditioners,” she said. — Bernama