JOHOR BARU: Three schools and two kindergartens in Pasir Gudang here will be closed for two days, starting tomorrow, to enable the authorities to further monitor why 15 students suffered breathing difficulties believed to be caused by air pollution in the area on Thursday.
Johor Health, Culture and Heritage Committee chairman Mohd Khuzzan Abu Bakar said the decision to close the schools and kindergartens was made by the technical committee on the case and would involve Sekolah Agama Taman Mawar (where the incident occurred), Sekolah Kebangsaan Pasir Gudang 4 and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pasir Gudang 2.
The two kindergartens are - Tadika Pasti and Tadika Pintar Bestari.
“All these schools and kindergartens are within a radius of 100m to 800m from the Sekolah Agama Taman Mawar.
“We are closing as a precautionary measure because it involves small children (kindergarten pupils),” said Mohd Khuzzan, adding that more than 3,000 people (including teachers) were in the schools and kindergartens.
He said this at a press conference at the Monitoring Operations Room, Pasir Gudang Municipal Council Stadium here, today.
Mohd Khuzzan said that as of today, the radius of the area that was monitored by the air quality monitoring team was 1.1 km from the scene but found that the air quality reading in the area was still normal.
“Therefore, the monitoring will continue until Monday (June 24) pending the investigation report on the cause of the incident,” he said.
“Just at noon yesterday after the press conference, two new victims were reported to have received treatment at the Sultan Ismail Hospital.
“The victims were a male and female students, aged 11 years, from the religious school but one of them was asthmatic. Six more victims who were admitted to the hospital had earlier been discharged,” he said adding that no new patients have been admitted as at 12pm on Saturday. - Bernama
