STKK 6723

CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM

METHANE POISONING IN KIM KIM RIVER,

PASIR GUDANG
JOHOR DARUL TAKZIM

Name Nor Naurah Nazurah binti Md Nadzri

Matrix number P98272

Lecturer Prof. Dr. Yang Farina Abdul Aziz

Methane poisoning in Pasir Gudang, Johor.

Earlier in this week, our country has been shocked and terrified of a case happening in Pasir
Gudang, Johor where methane poisoning has been suspected to occur due to irresponsible act
of factories that has been dumping their chemical waste in the Kim Kim River. On 7th March
2019, the students of SK and SMK Pasir Putih, an ambulance driver and canteen workers
have been brought to the hospitals as they were having the symptoms of chemical poisoning
such as nausea, vomiting and throat irritation after inhaling the toxic fumes believed caused
by the chemical dumping in the Kim Kim River located nearby the school. As reported by
Suhaini (2019), all of them are in stable condition and still under supervision of the doctors
even some of them were placed in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

According to witnesses, a tanker has been seen illegally dumped the chemical waste in the
river on Wednesday morning as it was releasing an oily liquid into the river. The authorities
and police are cooperating to trace the suspicious tanker and lorry by observing the CCTV
placed nearby Kim Kim River (Hussein, 2019). The director of Johor Department of
Environment, Dato Dr Mohammad Ezanni stated that one of the reason why factories usually
dumped their waste because they have to cover about RM 2000 per tonnes to properly treat
the waste disposal so there are people who actually choose an easy way to escape from
paying for the waste treatment fees.

As for 15th March, there are about 2775 people affected has been sought treatment in various
hospitals and clinics in Johor Bahru and the Ministry has decided to shut down all the schools
in Pasir Gudang to avoid the situation worsened as the cleaning process has worsen the
chemical reaction therefore, the number of affected people rise (CNA/Bernama,2019). The
situation is quite worrisome as the fumes were carried by the wind so the hot weather can
triggers the reaction more. This statement also has been supported by a lecturer from
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia that said the condition has worsen as the gas evaporates and
react with other particles in air as declared by a report from Kamarudin on 15th March 2019 .
However the Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad said that there is no need for
declaration of emergency as it is still does not reach the critical state (Alias, 2019)

According to BERNAMA, it is confirmed that there are 8 chemicals in the river water sample
including methane, hydrogen chloride, acrylonitrile, acrolein, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene
and limonene after it was tested by Department of Environment. Some of the chemicals are
highly carcinogenic and very harmful as it can cause neurotoxicity and long term effect
health problems. The chemicals can evaporated to air and also dissolved in water, hence their
presence cannot be seen but can only detected by the smell other chemicals. It is the indicator
of the contaminated air as the management of school reported that they has been smelling the
chemical on 7th March morning( BERNAMA, 2019).

Based on the report by Astro Awani, the concentration of acrylonitrile is the highest in the
sample. The limit of exposure of acrylonitrile is 2 part per million (ppm) however based on
the analysis, there are about 7.33 ppm of it detected in the samples proving why most of the
victims experienced nausea, vomiting, and trouble breathing as it is the effects of high
exposure to acrylonitrile. Acrylonitrile if metabolized in the human body is broken down
into several chemicals includes cyanide which is very dangerous as it can cause cyanide
toxicity. (Graham& Taylor, 2018). There are also several cases of death in children due to
inhalation of acrylonitrile as children is more susceptible and weaker than adults as declared
in Toxicological Profile for Acrylonitrile, 1990. Another chemical which is acrolein is toxic
and can cause irritation to the body and it is also possible to develop cancer same with those
chemical with benzene rings.. Meanwhile other chemicals such as methane and hydrogen
chloride levels are not exceeding the exposure limit as reported by Najhan (2019). Methane is
considered as a non-toxic gas but can cause suffocation as it reduces the intake of oxygen
concentration.

This tragedy proved that the enforcement of laws in Malaysia is not fully accomplished as
every environmental-related company in Malaysia especially those with activities that can
affect the environment severely should comply with ISO 14001 which is Environmental
Management System that stated the company through audit process to ensure all the
companies follows the regulations well. Malaysia also have to improve in technology by
collaborating with advanced country with high technology to create a chemical pollution
index to measure the severability and precise amount of chemical releases.
References

1. Bau seperti minyak tanah- mangsa retrieved from

https://www.bharian.com.my/berita/kes/2019/03/538635/bau-seperti-minyak-tanah-
mangsa on 15th March 2019
2. Cyanide Toxicity retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507796/
on 18th March 2019.
3. Iktibar daripada Krisis Pembuangan Sisa Kimia di Johor retrieved from
http://www.bernama.com/bm/news.php?id=1705279 on 16th March 2019.
4. Johor methane poisoning: 39 still in hospital, four in ICU retrieved from
https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/03/467205/johor-methane-poisoning-39-
still-hospital-four-icu on 15th March 2019
5. Kronologi terkini pencemaran kimia di Sungai Kim Kim di Pasir Gudang retrieved
from http://bernama.com/bm/news.php?id=1705160 on 15th March 2019
6. Kronologi pencemaran sisa bahan kimia di Sungai Kim Kim Pasir Gudang sejak 7
Mac lalu http://www.bernama.com/bm/news.php?id=1704462 retrieved on 16th March
2019
7. Pencemaran Gas Metana retrieved from
https://www.hmetro.com.my/mutakhir/2019/03/431792/pencemaran-gas-metana-jas-
teliti-rakaman-cctv on 15th March 2019 on 16th March 2019.