JOHOR BARU: Some students of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Taman Nusa Damai who were affected in the latest incident of breathing difficulties, just now, claimed their eyes smarted before they felt dizzy and nauseous after sniffing a strong smell of gas during the incident.
Kasih Sofea Mohd Zull Ihsan, 13, said that she had just seated herself at the bus stop in front of her school when the incident took place.
‘’It was recess time at 10am, and, normally, I can be found at the bus stop. I had just sat down when I smelled gas ... a smell like a strong toxic gas.
‘’After that, I had breathing difficulties, headache and was coughing. When I looked back, some of my friends had lost consciousness,’’ she told Bernama at the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council Closed Stadium which had been turned into a Monitoring Operations Centre for the case, today.
Kasih Sofea said that, despite being in a state of confusion, she managed to find her way back into the school compound and informed the teachers about what had happened.
Her teacher then telephoned the ambulance which arrived in several minutes.
‘’As far as I can remember, when waiting for the ambulance, my hands were shivering with cold, I don’t know why,’’ she said.
Another student, Zareen Faridha Zulkfilee, 13, said she had also sniffed the strong smell of gas and her eyes immediately smarted and she felt dizzy.
‘’I made a beeline for the school health room before I was referred here (closed stadium),’’ she said.
Meanwhile, the father of a student, Mohd Hairi Nick Sham, 40, said he was informed about the incident from his daughter’s teacher via Whatsapp.
‘’Coincidentally, I was returning home to Taman Scientex from my place of work in Larkin when the teacher suddenly messaged me to fetch my daughter (Nur Airisa Zafify, 13) at school because of symptoms of breathing difficulties at the school.
‘’I hastily went there but when I arrived at the school my daughter had been taken here (stadium),’’ he said.
Mohd Hairi said that he did not smell anything weird in his daughter’s school area or their home in the past several days.
‘’It is different today,’’ he said.
Fendy Saharan, 38, said the incident not only took place at the secondary school but also at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Nusa Damai.
“My wife experienced cramps in her legs and had breathing difficulties upon sniffing the gas this morning. At that time, my wife and I were at the school to fetch my daughter’s report card in conjunction with the school’s open day with the teachers,’’ he added. — Bernama
