90 Sickened by Fumes at 2 Vegas Hotels; Sewer Gas Seen as Cause
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LAS VEGAS — More than 90 gamblers and vacationers, complaining of nausea and breathing difficulties, were hospitalized Sunday after being overcome by an apparent release of sewer gas inside two hotel-casinos on the Strip.
“It looks as if some sewer gas backed up, affecting the Excalibur and Tropicana,” said Clark County Health Officer Dr. Otto Ravenholt.
The two hotel-casinos are located across the Strip from each other and have a combined total of about 7,000 rooms. The resorts were not evacuated.
“It has been a sizable response to a relatively mundane problem,” said Ravenholt. “But the examination of how it came about and how it can be precluded will take days or weeks.”
A sewer line problem was reported east of the Strip earlier Sunday. “It may be related,” said Ravenholt.
A Mercy Ambulance spokesman said 95 people were transported to six area hospitals in a three-hour period. None was believed seriously injured.
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