Police in Tokyo said Wednesday they are investigating how a fire extinguisher apparently fell from its fixing point inside a Hanzomon Line subway train, spewing powder and creating panic in the packed morning rush hour.
The memory of the 1995 Aum Shinrikyo poison gas attacks on the subway remains fresh in many people's minds. In the fire extinguisher incident, several people were injured and others were sickened by the powder.
Specifically, police are trying to work out how a restraining band that fixed the device to the wall was missing and how the safety pin was removed. They have not ruled out that someone did it on purpose.
Tokyu Corp., which operates the line, announced earlier Wednesday that the band was found under a floor bridge plate between two cars, a location not considered natural if the band had broken and fallen by itself.
The 40-cm-long fire extinguisher fell from the train car wall to the floor at around 8:30 a.m. when the train stopped at Hanzomon Station. The impact apparently released the chemical in the extinguisher, filling the packed car with composition. When the panicked passengers ran from the car, five fell and sustained injuries and three others were sickened.
The operator also said the safety pin that keeps the extinguisher from releasing its contents was also found under the bridge plate. The extinguisher had been mounted on the wall near the bridge plate, around 1.3 meters above the floor. When the company checked the extinguisher early on Tuesday, it was in its normal position.
