Suspicious white substance to undergo testing

A suspicious white substance found in a package at a warehouse in Nitro Monday is being tested by the FBI.

The white substance was discovered by workers at the McJunkin Redman Corporation warehouse near the Kanawha-Putnam county line at 11:30 Monday morning.

Nitro firefighters and other emergency responders undergo decontamination after contact with suspicious substance Monday.

Kanawha County Deputy Emergency Manager C.W. Sigman said two workers opened up a package shipped from Mexico and found the mysterious white powder inside a pipe fitting. He said that’s when authorities were called in to investigate.

According to paramedics, the two workers immediately started having respiratory issues such as a burning throat and burning eyes. Sigman said the workers are doing fine now.

“The people have so far refused medical treatment,” said Sigman. “They said once they got outside in the fresh air, they were fine.”

As a precaution, the road near the facility was closed and the Kanawha County bomb squad and a Nitro Fire Department Hazmat team were called in. A crew from the state Department of Environmental Protection was also called in to investigate the substance.

Sigman said the crews were unable to determine the composition of the material with the equipment available on scene.

The FBI has taken the entire package to a lab and is currently running tests to determine exactly what the substance is.

The FBI, DEP, State Police, Nitro Police Department and the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office are all working together in the investigation.