Brussels, Oct 13 (AFP) Fifteen people were taken ill dueto noxious fumes in the kitchens of the EU's new Europabuilding in Brussels, where leaders of the bloc are due tohold a summit next week, emergency services said.
Ambulances were seen outside the 321-million-euroheadquarters of the European Council, dubbed the "Space Egg"because of its futuristic oval interior shape, and five peoplewere taken to hospital, they said.
"There was a bad mix of chemical products on the kitchenlevel. That caused fumes which made 15 people sick," PierreMeys, a spokesman for Brussels emergency services, told AFP.
He said the symptoms included "sore eyes and vomiting".
The European Council confirmed the incident but said nextweek's summit of 28 European Union leaders would take placethere as planned.
"A technical issue affecting the ventilation in thekitchens of the Europa building, producing noxious fumes inthe kitchens, has led to a number of kitchen staff fallingill," the council said in statement.
"The Belgian firemen and medical services were brought intoday to investigate the situation and evacuate kitchen staffwho felt ill."Staff were evacuated to the neighbouring Justus Lipsiusbuilding "applying the principle of safety first" it added.
"This incident will not prevent next week's meeting ofthe European Council from going ahead," it said.
The ambulances were deployed as part of an "emergencymedical plan" created by local authorities for any incidentinvolving more than 10 people, he added.
The Europa building opened in January after a series ofdelays.(AFP)AMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.