pandemonium erupted at yokohama's main train station yesterday when a mysterious gas spread through an underground corridor;sickening hundreds of people.the attack came a month after nerve gas killed 12 people in the tokyo subways,and police suggested it might be a copycat crime.
thousands of commuters raced out of the station,crowding sidewalks and streets.sirens wailed and at least 10 helicopters circled overhead. police,firefighters and chemical weapon experts,some in gas masks,checked the station for the source of the foul chemical odour.the national public safety commission chief said the air smelt like sulfuric acid.
yuka takaoka,a college student,said she saw firefightersclad in protective gear gingerly removing 20 or 30 small cardboard boxes from the station. they warned people to stay away,but did not explian what was inside, she said. kyodo news service said a white liquid was found in a corridor.
a military poison gas warfare unit was sent to the area and prepared to spray neutralizing chemiacals.but officials said sarin, the nerve gas used in the tokyo attack,was not suspected because the victim's symptoms were different. japan is still on edge over the march 20 tokyo attack,in which 12 people died and 5,500 were sickened.
authorrities believed the yokohama attack was deliberate, but named no suspects and no one claimed responsibility .at least 397 people were taken to hospitals when they complained of stinging eyes ,coughs and dizziness after smelling a foul chemical odour at the trainsd
station ,police said .there were no reports of serious or life-threatening injuries.