Ditto.
Authorities track mystery odor across Philadelphia
11/18/2004, 6:05 p.m. ET
By DAVID B. CARUSO
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A mysterious invisible cloud of bad smelling ... something, wafted across Philadelphia on Thursday, leaving sour faces and perplexed officials in its wake.
Emergency dispatchers began receiving the first of hundreds of 911 calls about the strong odor shortly past 2 p.m., first from the southern tip of South Philadelphia, then farther north as the scent drifted on the wind.
Transit officials, fearful of a gas leak, evacuated the city's Broad Street subway line in South Philadelphia for about 45 minutes.
Television news crews chased the stink as it moved, interviewing city folk who had a hard time describing whatever it was they were smelling. Some said it was like propane. Others said it was more like sulfur.
Meanwhile, authorities collected air samples, phoned nearby refineries and checked the pressure of natural gas lines, trying to figure out if there had been some sort of industrial mishap.
"We don't know what it is. But we've gathered enough samples to know that it's not toxic. It's just offensive," mayoral spokeswoman Barbara Grant said at about 4 p.m.
Investigators were still puzzled in the early evening, although a police spokesman said authorities were checking out a theory that it was related to dust released as a substance was transferred between two train cars.
The odor had largely dissipated by 5 p.m., but not before authorities had collected complaints from city neighborhoods several miles up the Delaware River and across the water in Camden, N.J.
"We don't have any reports that it made anyone sick," said Fire Department Battalion Chief Willie Williams. "I'm just glad it's moving north out of the city."