Panic at UIA medical faculty after mercury spill

A team of six fire fighters was dispatched to the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) Indera Mahkota here Monday, after a thermometer held by an employee of its medical faculty, fell and burst.

Indera Mahkota Fire and Rescue Department senior operations officer Mohd Hilmi Kashfi Mat Zali said the 12.22pm incident caused panic and anxiety among staff of the faculty before one of them made a distress call to the department.

"Upon arrival at the scene, the team used equipment specially prepared by UIA and proceeded to clean up the mercury spill with bleach liquid, and stored the broken thermometer in a closed container to ensure no leakage.

"The operation took about two hours and the medical room resumed operation at 2pm," he said when contacted. -- Bernama