A suicide with a chemical at the Fairmont hotel makes sick nine

SAN JOSE – A suspected suicide involving a poisonous chemical sent several people to the hospital and led to the three-story evacuation of the Fairmont hotel in downtown San Jose on Saturday. announced the authorities.

Firefighters were called to the hotel around 10 am for a reported suicide, after a hotel staff member found a dead woman in a room on the 19th floor and smelled a stink of smoke. Chemical product.

Nine employees and guests were treated at the scene and taken to local hospitals for exposure to the unidentified chemical, said Captain Mitch Matlow of the San Jose Fire Department.

Some said they feel bad and dizzy or suffer from shortness of breath, said Matlow, but none of their injuries seem to be life threatening.

"Nine people were decontaminated, including seven hotel staff and two guests," said Captain Matlow.

Authorities closed Market Street between San Carlos and San Fernando streets to investigate the incident. The street was still closed around 17 hours.

"More than 100" rescuers responded to the incident, including San Jose firefighters, police officers, county firefighters and county emergency medical services staff, Matlow said.

San Jose firefighters and the police are still investigating the death and trying to identify the chemical used.

People inside the building said the chemical smelled of rotten egg, indicating that it was perhaps hydrogen sulphide gas, Matlow said. .

Saturday's authorities did not provide any information about the deceased person.

However, the San Jose police contacted and spoke with the person who was registered at the hotel, since she was in the room where the suicide had occurred, had been registered and had spoken to that person.

This investigation sequence suggested that the suicide victim was a person other than the guest registered in the relevant room. It was not immediately clear whether the registered guest and the suicide victim knew each other.

Fire crew evacuated the 18th, 19th and 20th floors. Hotel staff cut the hotel's ventilation system to contain the chemical.

More than a dozen fire trucks and ambulances, including at least one dangerous goods truck, were stationed in front of the hotel on Saturday morning.

Five people were seen being treated by firefighters outside the hotel. One of them was showered with a fire hose before being taken in an ambulance by horse drawn carriage.

The hotel lobby and other shops on the first floor remained open and the building was never completely evacuated.

No firefighters were injured in the incident, said Matlow.

"The hotel is being repopulated for those wishing to return to their room" on floors 18 and 20, said Matlow.