Man caught on camera, Japan still remembers the deadly sarin attack of ’95
– TOKYO, 25 MAY – The final toll from the accident which occurred in the Ginza district, in the center of Tokyo, in a commercial complex in the luxury shopping area is 25 people intoxicated. According to the Metropolitan Police, the alarm was raised around midday (5am in Italy), when the presence of a “pungent and irritating” odor inside the building was reported. Several visitors complained of coughing, burning throat and breathing difficulties, triggering a massive intervention by rescuers. Over 50 fire engines arrived on site, with personnel equipped with protective suits, while the surrounding roads were temporarily closed to traffic to allow emergency operations.
The people involved today, aged between 20 and 80, underwent the first health checks.
Nineteen of them were transferred to hospital for further checks, but none were in serious condition. All patients, according to the authorities, remained conscious.
Investigators believe it was a deliberate gesture. The security cameras would have in fact filmed a man, with his face covered by a mask, spraying an as yet unidentified substance near a bank automatic teller machine on the ground floor of the structure. The suspect then quickly walked away immediately after the action. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation to ascertain the nature of the substance used and reconstruct the dynamics of the incident.
This is the second incident in less than a month involving people in Tokyo who felt ill due to gas being sprayed in a public area.
On May 10, at least 10 people were hospitalized after an unknown substance was reportedly sprayed inside a moving train near Tokyo.
Japan is still shaken by the memory of the serious subway attack of March 20, 1995, when members of the Aum Shinrikyo sect released sarin gas on trains, killing 14 people and making more than 5,800 ill.
