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Japan detergent suicide sparks panic



By Shino Yuasa, AP
01 May 2008 @ 4:25 pm IST

Tokyo - Some 350 people evacuated their homes in northern Japan to escape poisonous fumes released Thursday by a neighbor who killed himself by mixing detergent and other chemicals — the latest in a series of such suicides.


A police cordon is placed in front of the Peninsula Tokyo hotel in Tokyo April 25, 2008
A police cordon is placed in front of the Peninsula Tokyo hotel in Tokyo April 25, 2008. A man was found in a room on the 10th floor of the hotel on Friday in an apparent suicide attempt by gassing, as hydrogen sulfide was detected in the room, police and firefighters said, Kyodo reported. (Reuters Photo)
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The panic in Otaru came just hours after national police urged Internet providers to crack down on Web sites spurring a wave of detergent-related suicides that have reported killed 50 people in the past month.

The rash of such suicides in Japan — which already has one of the world's highest suicide rates — has triggered widespread concern because the powerful fumes can seriously harm bystanders and rescuers.

In Otaru, on the northern island of Hokkaido, a 24-year-old man mixed the chemicals in his house after midnight. He died, and the gas — hydrogen sulfide — escaped his home, and neighbors were alerted by the smell, a Hokkaido police official said.

The man's 58-year-old mother, who was apparently overcome by the fumes, was found unconscious nearby and was taken to hospital. Police said she was recovering.

A total of about 350 neighbors fled to a nearby school playground for about two hours, until the fumes dispersed, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department protocol.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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