Lesser coverage on the recent Pasir Gudang outbreak

Three months after the fatal Sungai Kim Kim chemical pollution incident that happened in March, Pasir Gudang finds itself once again embroiled in a similar crisis; however, this time, the source of pollution was unknown.

 

 

On June 20, 15 students from one of the schools in the Pasir Gudang district suffered from breathing difficulties and vomiting. Consequently, five of them were admitted to the hospital. It was believed that the incident happened because of air pollution.

 

 

Nevertheless, this recent outbreak at Pasir Gudang had lesser media coverage compared to the crisis caused by chemical dumping at Kim Kim River back in March.

 

Notably, Bernama was the most active medium to write on the Kim Kim River pollution with 106 news articles written within the first 10 days of the incident. Whereas, for the recent outbreak at Pasir Gudang, Bernama only produced 21 news articles within the same time frame.

 

As of July 2, the authorities have yet to identify the source of the pollution. In response to the recent event, Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, Yeo Bee Yin said the government will no longer approve new chemical factories in the district while available industries will be monitored continuously.