A rumour of a fluorine gas leak from a consignment in the cargo area of Terminal 3 of the Lucknow airport led to chaos for about three hours on Saturday morning.

An unidentified official at the airport was quoted as saying to the media: “There was a shipment containing radioactive substance — fluorine. Later on, we came to know that it was meant for medicines for cancer patients, which could be exposed to the environment and harm living beings. The National Disaster Management Force handled the situation smoothly and took the packet to an isolated place. Nobody was affected by the substance.

“There was panic for a while here because of the rumour that fluorine gas had leaked in the area and three staff had fainted. But the substance was detected and contained before it would harm anybody. The flights remained unaffected,” he added.

The experts claimed that there was a risk of respiratory damage and burns in case it was inhaled. Chief fire officer Mangesh Kumar said: “The security staff on duty at Terminal 3 reported a beep during scanner check of a container, which was to be transported from Lucknow to Guwahati. Later, they found that it was an electronic fluorine liquid. The NDRF evacuated about 1.5km of the area to prevent any untoward incident. They also repacked the consignment and took it to a safe place.”