Suspicious powder disrupts inner city

Several hundred Auckland office workers were evacuated and three women taken to hospital after suspicious white powder spilled from an envelope at an inner-city building yesterday.
The three, staff of Southern Cross health insurance subsidiary Activa, were taken to Auckland City Hospital by ambulance in head-to-toe overalls as their clothes were bagged and sealed for decontamination.

The women were sent home last night, six hours after one of them opened the envelope at about 11.30am to find white power spilling over her computer keyboard, on the first floor of the 21-storey Quay Tower.

Southern Cross chief executive Ian McPherson said she would be monitored through the weekend, until tests of the material at a Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry lab could determine its nature.

Southern Cross called emergency services immediately and advised the building management to shut down air-conditioning. It also closed its mail rooms and warned staff of all its Auckland offices and hospitals not to open any more letters or packages.

The building was evacuated and a section of northern Albert St remained closed for almost three hours as hazardous materials specialists among 30 firefighters removed the substance.