78 sickened by mysterious gas in Russia
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-26 21:14

At least 78 people were sickened by the release of unidentified gas in several stores in St. Petersburg, Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said Monday.

A spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry, Viktor Beltsov, said 78 people sought medical care and 66 of them were hospitalized. None of them were in life-threatening condition, he said.

He said all those sickened were from one branch of the Maxidom home-goods chain.

Andrei Aylabiev, another spokesman for the ministry, said customers in another Maxidom store reported smelling some kind of gas. At two other stores, boxes containing timers and ampules were found, he said.