Eight people who may have been exposed to a “chemical agent” on Wednesday at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) in Co Limerick were kept under observation and separated from other patients in hospital.
A total of nine people, including TUS students and staff, are understood to have suffered irritations to their eyes and a burning sensation in their throat area leading to the evacuation of part of the campus around 11am on Wednesday.
Seven patients were taken by ambulance from the university campus to University Hospital Limerick (UHL), an eighth person self-presented at the hospital, and a ninth person was assessed by paramedics at the scene.
A fleet of HSE ambulances and tenders attached to Limerick City and County Fire and Rescue Service responded to the scene, and investigations into the cause of the incident were continuing.
“As the patients in question may have been exposed to an as-yet unknown chemical agent, they were cohorted and kept under observation in a designated area separate from but adjacent to the ED proper,” said a spokesman for the UL Hospitals Group.
“A total of eight patients presented to the Emergency Department at UHL following an incident at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) campus at Moylish, Limerick”, it said.
“Seven patients were conveyed to the Emergency Department by ambulance and another self-presented.
Patients were retriaged on arrival and have been reassessed.”
“A ninth patient was assessed at the scene by the Alternative Pre-Hospital Pathway (APP) service, a collaboration between the National Ambulance Service and UL Hospitals Group.”
Sources said the hospital’s major emergency plan swung into action to provide emergency response to the casualties brought in from the scene.
“Staff at the Emergency Department regularly take part in training exercises and drills in the event of such an incident.
“All the patients are stable and all but one have been discharged from hospital as of 3.30pm,” the hospital group said.
A TUS spokeswoman said its Moylish Campus’s main building was “evacuated” at approximately 11am “as members of Limerick Fire Service investigated complaints of a possible irritant in the air in one part of the building”.
“No source was found for the irritant and following the inspection” and the fire service advised that the main building could re-open from 2.30pm.
A source familiar with the incident said people at the campus had complained of a strange odour before experiencing a burning sensation in their throats.
“They could not see it but they could smell it, it could have been a far more serious and everyone who was taken to hospital is being looked after,” the source said.
The TUS spokeswoman said that “seven people (including TUS staff and students) were taken to the University Hospital Limerick by ambulance as a precaution” and that the university was investigating the cause of the incident.
More than 1,500 students are registered across seven TUS campuses across the country.
