Travellers push their trolley past a logo of Malaysia Airports at the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. File photo
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Around 39 people at Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur international airport fell ill on Thursday, July 4, 2024, after a gas leak at an aircraft engineering facility, but no passengers were affected and there were no flight disruptions, the fire department said.

The Selangor state fire department said it received an emergency call regarding a chemical leak at the Southern Support Zone Sepang Aircraft Engineering facility at 11.23 a.m. (0323 GMT) and dispatched its personnel along with a hazardous materials team.

The engineering facility is separate to the passenger terminal and those affected by the gas worked for three companies operating there, the fire department said in a statement.

Thirty nine people complained of dizziness and nausea, with 14 sent to the air disaster unit to receive treatment while one was hospitalised, the department said.

There was no wider risk to public safety, it added.

The chemical was later identified as methyl mercaptan, added to liquefied petroleum gas as an odorant, coming from an unused tank at the facility, the department said.

The leak was being patched up, and the tank would be dismantled and disposed of, it said.

A company in the US has claimed that they have scientific evidence of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370’s final resting place. According to the Independent, Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics company based in Texas,  submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government for a new search in the southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have crashed. 

The company’s chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett said, ”We now feel in a position to be able to return to the search for MH370, and have submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government. Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018.”

”Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities,” Mr Plunkett added. 

Notably, the company has proposed an all-new no-find, no-fee search. Ocean Infinity had last attempted to find the missing plane in 2018.

According to ABC7, Malaysia’s transportation minister says he’s invited Ocean Infinity to share its new evidence and has promised that, if it’s credible, he’ll push to greenlight a new search. 

The government has long said it would not support another search without new leads on the plane’s location.

Notably, flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board disappeared after leaving Kuala Lumpur Airport in southern Malaysia en route to Beijing, China, on March 8, 2014.  A nearly three-year search covering 120,000 square kilometres in the Indian Ocean found hardly any trace of the plane, with only some pieces of debris picked up. Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found and the operation was suspended in January 2017.

On Sunday, relatives of passengers aboard the plane also pushed for a new search as they spoke of enduring grief and the struggle to find closure. About 500 relatives and their supporters gathered at a shopping centre near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur for a “remembrance day”, with many visibly overcome with grief.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he would be “happy to reopen” the search for flight MH370 if “compelling” evidence emerged.