If this dog is in this condition, imagine what it's going to do to all of us

On September 26, 2006, AP reported: A trucking company worker accidentally damaged a pressurized tank of sulfur dioxide [SO2] Tuesday, releasing a cloud of the noxious gas and sickening dozens of people in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The AP report also noted:

Witnesses said people began vomiting after breathing the gas, a poisonous industrial chemical that smells like a match that has just been struck.
Deputy Fire Chief Lathey Wirkus arrived at the scene and began to feel his lungs burning.

"I started screaming at all these people to run down the street," Wirkus said. "They were hacking, coughing, snot coming out of their noses."

Wirkus saw a dog nearby on its side with its tongue panting.

"I thought to myself, `If this dog is in this condition, imagine what it's going to do to all of us,'" said Wirkus, who received oxygen at a hospital.

Gee, imagine the fate of all the people and dogs who have been living in Linden, New Jersey for years.


[IPBiz post 2020, dedicated to "20-20"]