By Julie Horbal
Winnipeg Sun
Copyright 2008 Canoe Inc.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Four Revenue Canada mailroom workers went to hospital in stable condition yesterday morning after they were exposed to a mysterious but ultimately harmless blue powder wafting out of an envelope split open by machinery.
Emergency crews descended on the agency’s Stapon Road taxation centre shortly after 10 a.m. following reports that as many as 40 people were exposed to the unidentified substance. The mailroom was cleared and the rest of the building temporarily locked down, Winnipeg police said.
But by mid-afternoon, hazardous material crews and members of the police bomb squad had determined the powder was harmless.
Big concern
“The situation is concerning,” police spokeswoman patrol Sgt. Sandra Martin said at the scene. “In this day and age we have to take things like this very, very, very seriously. Anytime a substance is sent it’s a big concern to police.”
Martin said the four workers who came into direct contact with the package went through the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service’s hazardous material unit, then went to hospital as a precaution.
The 40 or so others who may have been exposed were cleared at the scene.
More than a dozen emergency vehicles — including paramedic units, fire engines and cruiser cars -- remained at the taxation centre through much of the afternoon, blocking vehicles from the building’s rear delivery dock.
Only the mailroom workers had to be evacuated from the building.
Martin said it may take a while for officials to know exactly what was in the package and who it was meant to scare or harm.
“This is only the beginning of the investigation,” she said.