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Commuters flee gas attack
By Katharine Barney And Kiran Randhawa, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 19.05.05A major investigation is under way after hundreds of terrified commuters fled a Tube station after a CS gas attack.
Detectives are today scouring CCTV security tapes for clues to who released a canister of gas in the crowded ticket hall at Ealing Broadway last night.
Passengers felt their throats begin to burn and their eyes water as they fought their way to escape. Police, fire and ambulance crews raced to the station just after
6.30pm when the noxious substance was unleashed.
The station was evacuated and trains suspended while paramedics treated people at the scene for the effects. One suffered an asthma attack in the back of an ambulance.
"It was very scary," said one passenger. "We were afraid terrorists had struck." Another gassed commuter, Douglas McCarthy, 38, added: "We didn't know what was going on, we just knew we had to get out of there. It was pretty terrifying."
Mr McCarthy, who was entering Ealing Broadway to travel back to his home in east London, said: "I had just got into the station when I started coughing and spluttering.
"All around me other people were doing the same and heading for the exit. They should have closed it there and then."
Adrian Edwards, 35, a security guard at Ealing Broadway Tube station, said: "We were first made aware of the situation after one of the security staff near the ticketing area started to feel dizzy.
"We realised we were inhaling some kind of gas and that's when people started to panic. We quickly evacuated the building.
"I started to get a headache and a very sore throat. It was scary how
quickly the gas affected us."
Jack Williams, a 34-year-old insurance salesman from Ealing, said: "I had just come off the Tube and was heading out of the station when tears welled up in my eyes.
"All of a sudden I felt quite faint and had to be helped out of the station by one of the staff.
"If that gas had been released in a Tube, it could have had devastating consequences."
A British Transport Police spokesman said the gas could have been let off by "any one of thousands" of passengers.
A London Fire Brigade spokeswoman said six fire engines were sent to the scene after ambulance crews alerted them to a suspected "tear gas" incident.
Witnesses told how they saw hundreds of people emerging from the station coughing and spluttering.
The all-clear was sounded just before 8pm. A British Transport Police spokesman said: "We were called to the station just before 6.40pm when staff reported a noxious smell.
"The station was evacuated as a precaution. Two or three people complained of nausea and one person suffered an asthma attack and was treated at the scene."
The incident comes as new figures show that this summer will be the busiest ever on London's Tube lines, with passengers also having to cope with soaring temperatures.
