Police had applied to the court to have the men, who were arrested yesterday, remanded for six days from today to help the police in the probe, he told reporters after the presentation of Pingat Jasa Pahlawan Negara (PJPN) awards at the Johor Police headquarters here.

Fuzi said the investigation will be conducted under Section 278 of the Penal Code for making the atmosphere noxious to health, under Section 284 of the Penal Code for negligent conduct with respect to any poisonous substance and under Section 326 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means.

The dumping of chemical waste in Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang came to light on March 7 when many students, teachers and staff of schools near the river suffered breathing difficulty, vomiting, nausea and sore throat after inadvertently inhaling toxic fumes emanating from the effluents.

On March 13, the education ministry ordered all the 111 schools in Pasir Gudang to close after many more people suffered what has come to be called the “Kim Kim symptoms”.

About 4,000 people had sought medical treatment.

All these 111 schools will remain closed until the upcoming one-week school holidays beginning on Friday, Education Minister Maszlee Malik said today.

“We are taking precautions. The schools will remain closed until the school holidays. We will make announcements from time to time. The reopening of the schools will be announced later,” he said when met at the Pasir Gudang Municipal Council stadium here.

Maszlee said the ministry had not decided as yet on the replacement classes for the days the schools will remain closed.

“That will be decided later. The more pressing issue here is the health of the students,” he said, adding that there will no change in the schedule for examinations.