68 injured in toxic incidents at Hamburg international airport and subway station

Hamburg Airport briefly closed after dozens injured by irritant gas

German officials on Sunday evacuated hundreds of people from Hamburg Airport and briefly closed the facility after dozens of passengers reported eye irritation and breathing difficulties in a security luggage-check area.

Maik Lewerenz, spokesman for the Hamburg federal police, said that about 68 people were injured.

Rene Schönhardt, spokesman for the Hamburg police, said there was “no evidence” that the incident was a terrorist attack. Instead, he said, the injuries most likely stemmed from a cartridge containing pepper spray that was found in the bin provided for travelers to dispose of liquids before boarding.

“Nothing else has been found,” Schönhardt said. “The fire department didn’t detect any dangerous substances.”

Werner Nölken, spokesman for the Hamburg fire department said, “We are not assuming a terrorist attack.” The current assumption, he said, is that “some clown, for whatever reason” released pepper spray into an air-conditioning vent, causing the substance to spread.

Wait. So they type of gas purposefully released in the airport AC system makes the difference between a clown and an act of terror????

The very next paragraph says:

The cartridge found in the bin was only the size of a lipstick, he said, so it wouldn’t have been possible to injure so many people without the air-conditioning system diffusing the gas.

Meanwhile, this source indicates something larger was found:


Link.

And this report describes a similar 'gas' incident moments later at the Hamburg subway station:

68 injured in toxic incidents at international airport and train station

Minutes after the airport was struck by the suspected gas leak, a subway station was also evacuated in the city centre.

Unconfirmed reports suggested the Hamburg station had been evacuated by "a gas incident".

The 'clowns' were very busy it seems to me.

I think it's the intended level of harm that makes the difference. Pepper spray is irritating, but not that dangerous.
Although real clowns can be terrifying...

Bob can put the 'Hamburg Hamburger' on the chalk board.
It has lots of pepper.

RT reporting that the substance could be pepper spray, according to the fire brigade.

A great plan.

Get somebody to bring a small pepper spray can through a checkpoint, get caught, and give the authorities a "reason" for a larger scale gas attack.

Brilliant !!

2 incidents at different locations, a random act? I think not, more to come I'm sure. Blame neo natzi's and the alt right! It's Germany so it wouldn't surprise me.

a reply to: xuenchen

Or a test run to measure disbursement...or a decoy to delay discovery of something more lasting...the speculation could be endless.

I'm not finding anything more on the larger unidentified bottle found.

I'm also looking for a source where I read (lost track of it, but still looking) that only airport personnel would have had access to the AC intake.

This story is just too bizarre.

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: xuenchen

Or a test run to measure disbursement...or a decoy to delay discovery of something more lasting...the speculation could be endless.

I'm not finding anything more on the larger unidentified bottle found.

I'm also looking for a source where I read (lost track of it, but still looking) that only airport personnel would have had access to the AC intake.

This story is just too bizarre.

My first thought was test run, but the more I think about it, that doesn't make sense to me at least. Why telegraph your next move?

a reply to: annoyedpharmacist

That's a reasonable point.

Sounds like they stole the plot from last seasons Homeland.

originally posted by: snowspirit
I think it's the intended level of harm that makes the difference. Pepper spray is irritating, but not that dangerous.
Although real clowns can be terrifying...

Proof of concept test?

Test run for something else

The cartridge found in the bin was only the size of a lipstick, he said, so it wouldn’t have been possible to injure so many people without the air-conditioning system diffusing the gas.

Nothing like tipping your hand!

Some terrorist probably just said "Duly Noted", and put a check mark in a box on a list of methods!

The Springer-Presse´s BILD...
The most laughable "newspaper" in germany, followed by the Focus and rubbish like that.

If someone farts, in the transatlantical ruled BILD it is an PUTIN-IS-ABC attack....

originally posted by: snowspirit
I think it's the intended level of harm that makes the difference. Pepper spray is irritating, but not that dangerous.
Although real clowns can be terrifying...

But, terrorists are not all that bright either.

Remember, their goal is to disrupt and cause chaos. Deaths in their books are a bonus.

Therefore, this was a (lame) terror attack. It's extremely unlikely that two incidents at different locations around the same time are a coincidence.

a reply to: ketsuko

Quite possibly.

How many places have that same sort of air conditioning system...? Probably fairly bog-standard--though I've no real idea--for airports and trainstations.

We can be fairly certain that somewhere someone is having an "Oh crap" moment, and somewhere else, another someone is having an "Hmmm...that's very interesting" moment. We'd be idiots not to believe that.

Biological agents dispersed in aerosol form, through duct work, in a busy international airport? Right out of a Tom Clancey novel. Is truth stranger than fiction?

a reply to: annoyedpharmacist

That's possible. But who says it'll be Europe?

With it being downplayed as a prank, it'll be last weeks news by tomorrow. Hard for it to be telegraphed if no one is paying attention.