The all-clear was given at the Silicon Valley Campus of Facebook on Tuesday after a package left at the facility a day before was feared to contain a dangerous nerve gas. Four buildings at the campus had to be evacuated on Monday and two workers were checked for exposure to Sarin. The deadly chemical attacks the nervous system of individuals who are exposed to it.
Jon Johnston is the Menlo Park fire marshall. Johnston says hazard material and fire teams performed an exhaustive examination of the area and determined no dangerous substances were detected on the package or at the facility.
Facebook performs routine safety checks on every package that arrives at the Silicon Valley facility. A check of the package on Monday resulted in a false positive for the dangerous gas.
Johnston says teams worked overnight Monday and into early Tuesday morning to clear the facility that normal activity could resume.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations also sent agents to the scene. No representative of Facebook has spoken yet in regards to the all clear.
The 2.3 billion monthly users and $55 billion in annual revenue generated by the company in 2018 speak volumes regarding its popularity. But the company has also faced harsh criticism over a number of issues and has endured more than its fair share of cyber attacks.
This past December, the company experienced a bomb threat at its Menlo Park Campus. Several buildings on the campus were evacuated but no bomb was found on the premises.
A sarin attack in 1995 resulted in 13 deaths among passengers of a subway in Tokyo, Japan. The attack was carried out by a cult that operated in the country.
The Syrian government was also accused of attacking insurgents with sarin during a brutal civil war. These allegations were denied by the Syrian government.
Dil Bole Oberoi
