SIX people were hospitalised following an incident at a Glasgow shopping centre.
As reported by the Evening Times yesterday, over 50 victims required medical treatment after a chemical smell developed at Silverburn.
Shoppers described scenes of "pandemonium" as hundreds were evacuated on Wednesday afternoon after reports that several people were feeling unwell.
A spokesperson from the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "We received a call at 12.43pm on Wednesday, August 22 to attend an incident at Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow.
“We dispatched our special operations team, four ambulances, two managers, Patient Transport resources, three paramedic response units and our Emergency Medical Retrieval Service team to the scene.
“Two patients were transported to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and four patients were transported to Glasgow Royal Infirmary. A further 46 people were treated and discharged at the scene.”
Read more: Around 50 casualties treated as Silverburn Shopping Centre evacuated
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) sent a specialist environmental protection unit to the scene along with a number of fire engines.
Linsey Hanna was at the centre when it was beginning to shut down.
The 22-year-old from Glasgow said: "Alarms went off for the entire shopping centre.
"There were quite a lot of workers getting treated outside by paramedics. Police then started asking if we had any coughing problems.
"We heard one worker say they had known something wasn't right.
"There were hundreds of people, it was actually crazy – every single person was evacuated.
"Outside, it was just chaotic – it was absolute pandemonium."
In a statement posted on social media, Silverburn said: "We've temporarily evacuated Silverburn as a precautionary measure and the emergency services are in attendance.
"The safety of our customers and staff is always our number one priority."
A number of road closures were also put in place for at least an hour and a half due to the incident, including Barrhead Road, Peat Road and M77 J2 off-slip. Glasgow City Council announced the restrictions had been lifted at about 4.25pm.
At 5pm, Silverburn posted online: "We can confirm the centre is now fully open. Extensive tests have been carried out and we have been given the all-clear by emergency services to re-open the centre.
"We'd like to thank the emergency services for their swift response and our customers for their patience and understanding during the closure."
Silverburn has been contacted for further comment.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here