Posted on 09/08/2006 3:23:07 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
(LEAD) Gas leaks into Seoul subway station, wounding nearly 40 people
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- Unidentified gas leaked into a subway station in downtown Seoul on Friday, injuring dozens of people, police and witnesses said.
At least 39 merchants and passers-by in an underground shopping area of the Jonggak Subway Station collapsed and were taken to nearby hospitals after inhaling the gas, which began seeping out around 4:20 p.m., police said.
Ping!
I've been there, very cool underground mall.
The first thing I thought of when I read this is what Shoko Asahara's people did in Tokyo.
Does sound like carbon monoxide from your description. Symptoms are mild until a concentration threshold is reached. Inability to walk due to loss of balance function follows. Nausea, weakness, and confusion. Not uncommonly seen in "coal gas" fired systems as coal gas has high CO content.
My grandson will be in Seoul for a week the last of this month. Hope he stays out of the malls. ;))
Something like that happened in a store in my area 6-8 years ago. A motorized paint stripping device on the roof poured carbon monoxide from its exhaust into the roof-mounted intake for the building's air-conditioning system. This caused several dozen customers and staff to pass out.
Must be more common than I thought.
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