Four people were taken to a hospital from a Bethesda post office Saturday for skin irritation, but authorities said they found no evidence of hazardous materials or weapons of mass destruction.
Three adult women and one adult man suffered “irritation to their skin” from an unknown substance, said Scott Graham, assistant chief for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue.
He said hazardous materials teams from Montgomery County, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Postal Service examined the patients, packages and equipment after authorities were called to the post office, located at 10421 Motor City Drive, at about 10:30 a.m.
The people were decontaminated at the scene, then taken to a hospital. Their injuries were described as not-life-threatening and were believed to only affect their skin.
The haz-mat teams found no signs of hazardous materials and it’s still not clear what sickened the people, Graham said. Postal Service authorities are taking over the investigation, he said.
