Fumes in Berlin Airport

By Staff Reporter | Nov 06, 2012 10:13 PM EST

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Fumes emanating from a toilet at Berlin's Tegel airport on Saturday caused 53 people to get sick, local media reported.

It has been reported that a cleaning crew used ammonia in excess when cleaning the toilet overneight, according to TheLocal.de, an English-language news site in Germany.

"A high level of ammonia was measured," a police spokesman told Der Spiegel magazine. Those who got sick were treated for nausea and sore eyes, The Berliner Morgenpost reported.

Fire fighters who arrived at the scene to investigate the toilet also became sick. More can be read from GlobalPost:

“Beware the lavatory: fifty-three people at a Berlin airport were sickened by an exceptionally pungent toilet on Saturday, causing the shut-down of an entire terminal and an investigation into the source of the fumes.

Victims of the fumes reported nausea and eye pain—and fire fighters who rushed to the scene at Tegel Airport to assist them also found themselves feeling decidedly ill, says NBC.

The Local reports that investigators eventually pinpointed the source of the trouble: an extremely high level of ammonia was found in the washroom in question. The bathroom and the now noxious terminal were thoroughly aired out, according to authorities, and the airport was able to re-open.”

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