Staff members prepare for dealing with toxic waste in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, yesterday. A total of 111 schools have been closed in the country after hundreds of people fell sick from inhaling toxic fumes coming from a local river. Minister of Education Maszlee Malik issued the closure Wednesday in a statement, saying “all students, teachers and staff of the affected schools are not required to attend school until the situation is fully restored,” the Borneo Post reported. Fiver hundred people, many of them school children, fell sick from exposure to toxic fumes emanating from the Sungai Kim Kim river, where chemical waste was dumped March 7. Xinhua