Girl uses hydrogen sulfide in suspected suicide; dozens sick

KONAN, Kochi Prefecture--A girl was found dead Wednesday in an apparent suicide using hydrogen sulfide that spread from her apartment here, sickening 80 other residents and forcing about 70 to evacuate, police said Thursday.

Residents in Konan, Kochi Prefecture, are evacuated to a gymnasium Thursday after hydrogen sulfide was used in a girl's apparent suicide at the "Happiness Kagami" apartment building. (TAKAHARU YAGI/ THE ASAHI SHIMBUN)

Police suspect the girl, a junior high school student, produced the chemical compound in the bathroom of her third-floor apartment unit in a municipal housing complex called "Happiness Kagami."

The sulphuric stench could be smelled outside the five-story building.

Twenty people complaining of headaches and other symptoms were taken to hospitals by ambulance or other vehicles, while 60 went on their own, police and other sources said.

Fourteen were hospitalized and one temporarily lost consciousness.

Seventy residents were evacuated to a nearby gymnasium, they added.

According to the investigation, police received a phone call at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday reporting an odor like "rotten eggs."

Officers found the girl lying in the bathroom in her school uniform. She was confirmed dead on the spot. The bathroom door was sealed up.

The girl lived with her mother, who was working when her daughter died, police said.

A 25-year-old woman living on the fifth floor said her older sister who was visiting complained about a foul odor on her way out.

When the two sisters went down to the third floor together, they found a paper sticking out of the mailbox of the junior high school student's apartment.

The paper carried a message, written in red ink, that said: "Poisonous gas is being produced. Please tell police but don't touch the door."

The two sisters called the girl's mother. After the mother returned home, they called police.

When they opened the door, they were overcome by the stench. The older sister collapsed and was taken to a hospital in an ambulance along with the student's mother and the mother's younger brother, who had also arrived at the apartment.

The older sister passed out, but later regained consciousness.

Hydrogen sulfide has been used in an increasing number of suicides in Japan recently.

In Konan, Shiga Prefecture, on Thursday, a caller informed a fire station around 11 a.m. about a "foul smell" coming from a room in a business hotel.

Firefighters found a man lying in the bathtub on the seventh floor.

The man, who appeared to be in his 30s, was taken to a hospital but was later pronounced dead. Police suspect he committed suicide with hydrogen sulfide.

At the time of the incident, there were no other guests at the hotel. But nine hotel employees were sickened by the gas and taken to a hospital.(IHT/Asahi: April 25,2008)