Teacher hospitalized after mercury spill at Manila Science HS

A teacher has been hospitalized after being exposed to mercury at the Manila Science High School (MSHS), as school officials suspended classes due to the chemical spill.

A report from radio dzBB's Cecille Villarosa on Balitanghali quoted Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office chief Johnny Yu as saying the mercury leak happened last March 11.

Yu, however, said that the the Department of Health and the Manila local government were only informed by school officials about the leak on Tuesday, March 21, after the teacher fell ill. 

The teacher was admitted to the Philippine General Hospital.

The MSHS has been on a two-week lockdown since the mercury leak, the report said. 

Two students and two teachers were reportedly cleaning the school laboratory when four vials of mercury and a container with three unknown radioactive materials spilled. 

One of the teachers and a janitor cleaned the spilled chemicals wearing personal protective equipment.

The five people exposed to the chemicals were identified in the report as: Judith Abareba, Marites Francisco, Ferdinand Bautista, Gabriel Reyes, and Mary Anne Cortez. It was not immediately known who among them was the one hospitalized.

After learning about the incident, DOH personnel were sent to the MSHS to conduct an inspection and later found the mercury level at the area to have reached 3,758 nanograms per cubic meter — way above the borderline of 200 nanograms per cubic meter.

The Manila government has already sent a firetruck from the Bureau of Fire Protection to clean the campus, and has coordinated with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the proper disposal of the chemicals. 

The BFP was able to contain the spilled mercury in a sealed trash bag. 

Yu said they have already formed an inter-agency task force to attend to the incident. — Joseph Tristan Roxas/MDM, GMA News