Nov 10, 2009 1:20 am US/Eastern
NYPD Probing Powder Sent To 3 NYC Consulates
Decontamination Centers Set Up Outside French And Austrian Missions & Uzbekistan Consulate Near United Nations
All 3 Suspicious Letters Recovered, Sent Away For Testing
By ROB MORRISON, CBS 2 HD News
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
Tents like this one outside the French Mission were set up at two other international addresses in NYC on Nov. 9, after letters containing a suspicious white powder were mailed to the buildings. The FDNY called the staging areas precautionary.
CBS
CBS 2 HD has learned suspicious letters with white powder were sent to two international missions and a consulate in New York City on Monday night.
A red decontamination tent was set up by the FDNY outside the French Mission at 47th Street and Second Avenue as teams were set up to check all the people in the building for a possible contaminant.
The tent at the French Mission was one of three set up, joining similar staging areas outside the Austrian Mission at 600 Third Ave., and Uzbekistan Consulate at 801 Second Ave.
Dozens of people were exposed to whatever was in those letters. More than 30 people were waiting to be brought downstairs and decontaminated in showers set up by the FDNY at the French Mission.
CBS 2 HD spoke to one resident who found out about the incidents during his dinner and said this type of thing goes with living in the same neighborhood as the United Nations.
"When you live in this neighborhood you assume a little bit of risk," Jonathan Jerome said. "Hey, you live in New York you assume a little bit of risk, but living in this neighborhood you know there's the UN around, a lot of embassies, a lot of consulates, missions, so you assume a little bit of risk. Hopefully, they do their job and everything is okay. It was a pretty good response if you ask me."
Authorities said the three letters that contained the unknown substance were recovered and sent to a lab for testing. Everything that took place with the response was completely precautionary. No injuries or transports to local hospitals have been reported at any of the three incidents around the UN, the FDNY said.
Please stay with CBS 2 HD and wcbstv.com for more on this developing story.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments