Members of staff of the Central Sorting Office are being evacuated due to toxic fumes at the complex yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn photos

A member of the Jamaica Fire Brigade was one of 60 people rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) yesterday for treatment after ingesting noxious fumes thought to be emanating from the Central Sorting Office (CSO) of the Post and Telecommunications Department in Kingston.

"People dropping like flies," was how one staff member described the scene to his co-worker, who turned up in the afternoon for work, only to find the entire area cordoned off and a barrage of emergency personnel on the scene.

"As mi go up and tek out me envelope fi go change di cheque, mi only smell a thing coming from over di cashier and same time mi start sneeze and cough and from dat, mi end up at di hospital," said Llewellyn Johnson, who was one of several pensioners who had to cut their business short yesterday.

At minutes past 10 a.m. yesterday, more than 600 staff members were standing on the outside of the compound after being instructed to evacuate the building. It was not long after that one woman fainted and was taken away by a waiting ambulance. After that, pandemonium broke out when, one by one, people started fainting.

Up to late yesterday, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) had not ascertained the source of the fumes, and was unable to say what type of fume it was.

"We have concluded that it is not inside the building, we have not picked up anything. We are checking to see if we can pick up anything in the surrounding community," said Gary Campbell, coordinator of NEPA's air quality management programme focal point.

A woman faints and is helped by others after she inhaled the fumes at the Central Sorting Office yesterday.