2 people possibly exposed to sarin at Facebook mail facility in California – official

Authorities say two employees may have been exposed to sarin, after a machine designed to detect harmful substances at a Facebook mailing center alerted employees to the presence of the lethal nerve agent.

Several buildings in the Menlo Park, California area, the location of the mailing facility, have been evacuated, according to a Facebook spokesperson.

“At 11:00 AM PDT this morning, a package delivered to one of our mail rooms was deemed suspicious,” Facebook said in a statement. “We evacuated four buildings and are conducting a thorough investigation in coordination with local authorities.”

The company added that while authorities have not yet identified the substance, they have cleared three of the four evacuated buildings for repopulation.

The FBI confirmed to the Associated Press that federal agents were assisting on the scene.

The Menlo Park Fire Marshal reported that two Facebook employees may have come in contact with the nerve agent.

"We have two possible exposures but right now they are not exhibiting any signs or symptoms," said Menlo Park Fire Marshall Jon Johnston. 

The machine used to detect dangerous substances at the mail processing center reportedly identified sarin on the package on two out of three tests, but it is unclear whether they were false positives. 

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