CHUKAI: The operation to dispose of the leaked butane gas at the Petronas Gas Bhd (PGB) area, near the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) site, is expected to take another two to three days to complete.
Kemaman police chief Supt Mohd Razi Rosli said inspections at seven locations, where gas detectors were installed by the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department’s Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) team and Petronas, recorded zero readings at all but two locations near the tunnel entrance where the leak occurred.
He said this indicated that the situation was under control and completely safe for nearby residents.
"Since the situation is completely safe, we will allow the 20 tahfiz students who were evacuated last Sunday to return to their madrasah and resume their activities as usual on Tuesday (Sept 23),” he said at a press conference at the incident area control centre in Kerteh on Monday (Sept 22).
However, Mohd Razi said that construction work on the ECRL site remains temporarily suspended until the gas is fully disposed of.
He added that the process of burning off the gas, using two mobile incinerators, is still ongoing under the close supervision of the Hazmat and Petronas teams.
Police are also maintaining a safety perimeter of about 500 metres around the site to prevent any untoward incidents.
"Petronas installed another mobile incinerator at around 11.30pm on Sunday (Sept 21) in the BU104 area, located at the left end of the valve closest to the gas leak, to speed up the combustion process.
"If all goes well, Petronas will proceed with injecting nitrogen into the pipe to ensure the remaining butane is safely disposed of,” he said.
Meanwhile, Terengganu Fire and Rescue Department deputy director Mohd Khairiri Mat Resad said the department has deployed two high-tech devices to detect the presence of dangerous and flammable gas at the site.
He said that gas detection and readings were carried out every two hours by the Hazmat team on duty.
"Petronas informed us that the disposal of the remaining butane gas would take some time, as the combustion process cannot be carried out on a large scale due to potential effects on the surrounding environment,” he said. – Bernama
