PARIS - The Canadian embassy in Paris was evacuated after an employee triggered a full-scale hazardous materials alert in the French capital early yesterday. The man suffered a nosebleed when he opened a package containing a cloth soaked in an unidentified liquid. The building, off the Champs-Elysees and a block from the Plaza Athenee hotel and Avenue Montaigne, was closed for three hours. Colonel Philippe Boutinaud of the Paris Fire Department told reporters the authorities were trying to determine the package's contents, and the worker was being examined. "We don't know if it was toxic or just a very bad joke," said Claude Laverdure, the Canadian ambassador. "It's being investigated." He added the embassy has never received a threat. Col. Boutinaud declined to say whether the package was mailed or hand-delivered, or whether it contained a message. The incident triggered an alert for possible nuclear, radiological, bacteriological and chemical contamination. About 15 police and fire department vehicles responded and there were 60 agents on the scene, some wearing white decontamination suits and masks. Police said later the worker had been ill for several days and his nosebleed had nothing to do with the package.

© National Post 2007