Suspicious parcel at US air base; 3 hospitalized

MASCOUTAH, Ill. - Three people fell sick and were treated at a hospital Wednesday after a suspicious package arrived at the mail center of an Air Force base in southern Illinois, prompting the evacuation of parts of the facility.

Two workers for the U.S. Postal Service and an Air Force serviceman at the Scott Air Force Base developed respiratory or skin reactions around 9 a.m. Wednesday in reaction to something in the mail room, according to base commander Col. Michael Hornitschek.

Officials isolated a package believed to be the cause of the discomfort and hazardous material specialists are investigating it, Hornitschek said. He offered no details about the package or what material was inside.

Capt. Kathleen Ferrero said 14 people were decontaminated on site and the three others were treated at a hospital in Belleville, Ill., then released. All were near the area of the base's mail center and may have been exposed, she said.

"Currently we're responding to a suspicious package that occurred at the official mail center (Building 1650)," air base spokesman Lt. Benjamin Garland tells CBS station KMOX St. Louis.

KMOX also reported that Hazmat crews are at the scene investigating the matter. It added the education center, bowling alley, and Airman Family Readiness Center are closed until further notice.

Garland did not have any information on what made the package suspicious, though local media reported it had a sulphur-like smell.

Ferrero said she did not know what the package contained and would not address media reports that it smelled like sulphur.

Garland says the hospitalized people showed no symptoms other than the rash.

With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks less than two weeks away, Scott spokesman Thomas Kistler said no extra precautions were in place on the base. He said officials are not treating this as a potential terrorist incident.

"I think they're treating it as a normal suspicious package right now," he said.

Kistler said officials were confident there was no reason for anyone else to leave.

"We have evacuated an area around the package but we haven't enlarged the evacuation area," he said. "We don't anticipate there's any danger to the rest of the base or to the community as a whole."

Ferrero said the area had been cordoned off although she did not believe there was any immediate danger. She noted that the base routinely performs exercises for incidents like this and was ready to respond.

"We are reacting on the side of caution," she said.

Hornitschek said the FBI is involved in the investigation, KMOX reported.

Master Sgt. Jerome Baysmore said "several" firefighters at the base were overcome by heat and treated by on-base medics. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that four firefighters affected.

Traffic flowed in and out of the base through one of the main gates by late morning.

The air base is near Mascoutah, Ill., about 25 miles east of St. Louis, and serves as a global mobility and transportation hub for the Defense Department. The base is home to the U.S. Transportation Command, Air Mobility Command, the 618th Air and Space Operations Center and Air Force Network Integration Center. It is also one of four bases in the Air Force to house both a Reserve unit — the 932nd Airlift Wing — and an Air National Guard unit — the 126th Air Refueling Wing.

The base's Web site says its population is 45,749.