3 hospitalized after suspicious parcel at air base

MASCOUTAH, Ill. (AP) — Three people from Scott Air Force Base in southwestern Illinois have been hospitalized with rashes after a suspicious package arrived at the installation’s mail center.

Air Force Lt. Benjamin Garland says 13 others who were at the mail center are undergoing a decontamination process as a precaution, though they showed no signs of illness.

The package uncovered Wednesday morning prompted precautionary evacuations of the base’s education center, bowling alley and other services near the mail center.

Garland did not have any information on what made the package suspicious, though local media reported it had a sulphur-like smell.

Garland says the hospitalized people showed no symptoms other than the rash.

Scott Air Force Base is near Mascoutah, about 25 miles east of St. Louis.