The Police of the City of Buenos Aires evacuated and assisted this morning the teachers and students of the Faculty of Dentistry of the National University of Buenos Aires (UBA), located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Recoleta, due to a gas leak.
Authorities received a 911 emergency call around 9:41 today due to a gas leak on the sixth floor of the university’s study house, located at Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear 2142, police informed Télam.
The building, which has a ground floor, eight floors and two basements, was evacuated, while the registered personnel cut the gas supply preventively, after which the work was done to plug the leak pipe.
Meanwhile, SAME personnel treated at least 18 people who showed some symptoms consistent with gas inhalation, so they were given oxygen.
Around 10:30, the firefighters arrived at the place as a preventive measure to verify the condition of the building together with the workers of the Metrogas company.
The dean of the UBA Faculty of Dentistry, Pablo Rodríguez, informed TN that the evacuation was caused by a “technical failure of a gas valve” located on the sixth floor of the building.
On the other hand, he explained that students and teachers began to “smell the gas” and that, when it became “very noticeable,” the evacuation protocol began. The dean pointed out that it was a “natural” gas leak for domestic use, not a chemical one.
Rodríguez stated that about three thousand people attended the building, but assured that their evacuation would be quick and safe. He also noted that the entire block has a “new connection” for gas, which was renewed at least “ten years ago.”
