Eight “Hazardous Material” alerts were listed within 30 minutes on the Emergency Victoria website after they were discovered just before 2pm (local time). The affected consulates have been evacuated.
Melbourne: Emergency services have launched a major operation in Melbourne after suspicious packages were reportedly delivered to multiple international consulates, including India, across the coastal capital of the Australian state of Victoria.
1. Photographs have appeared online showing firefighters and Ambulance Victoria paramedics attending the suspicious packages at the Indian Consulate and US Consulate on St Kilda Road.
Fire crews and police are at the Indian consulate in Melbourne. Staff evacuated sitting outside pic.twitter.com/Roc06bVxwj
— Kaitlyn Offer (@KaitlynOffer)2. Similar packaged were also delivered to United Kingdom Consulate, (Collins Street), Korean Consulate (St Kilda Road), German Consulate (Queen Street), Italian Consulate (St Kilda Road), Swiss Consulate (Ashwood), Pakistan Consulate (Cardigan Place), Greek Consulate (Albert Road) and the Indonesian Consulate (Queens Road).
3. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade and Australian Federal Police were notified and they have deployed teams to assess the situation.
4. Eight “Hazardous Material” alerts were listed within 30 minutes on the Emergency Victoria website after they were discovered just before 2pm (local time).
The affected consulates have been evacuated.
5. There have been no reports of injury as of yet.
6. Shortly after 9 am (local time) this morning, Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) crews, including specialised HAZMAT teams, were seen around the consulates.
7. This incident came just two days after a "suspicious" white powder was found from the Argentinian Consulate in Sydney.
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