90 Sickened by Fumes at 2 Vegas Hotels; Sewer Gas Seen as Cause
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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