Disneyland Illness Cause Still Unknown, Park Says : Investigation: Some say doctor at hospital attributed incident on Pirates of Caribbean ride to a Mace-like gas.

The cause of a sickness that affected 30 people on Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride Saturday night still had not been determined Sunday afternoon, a park spokeswoman said.

But two of the six people who were treated at a local hospital after becoming sick with coughing, tight chests, burning eyes, skin blotches and nausea said a doctor told them that “a gas, something like Mace” apparently caused the malady. Mace is a chemical compound that combines the effects of a tear gas and nerve gas, and temporarily stuns its victims.

Disneyland spokeswoman Jill Ornelas said Sunday afternoon that she could not confirm whether it was a Mace-like gas that temporarily shut down the popular indoor boat ride and forced its evacuation.

Ornelas said the cause of Saturday’s mass sickness is unknown and is still “being investigated by our security department.”

Meanwhile, some of the victims said that residual symptoms such as skin discoloration, dry throats and burning eyes continue to bother them Sunday. Several criticized Disneyland’s handling of the emergency, which occurred at 8:20 p.m.

At that time, they said, the water-fantasy ride was halted without explanation for up to five minutes and they were left in semidarkness, wondering what was going on while employees with handkerchiefs over their mouths passed by on walkways.

“They should have turned on the lights,” said Karen Hughes of Valley Center in San Diego County. “And we should not have been left down there (in boats) while they were evacuating people above who had been standing in line.”

Several victims also said Disneyland officials gave no immediate aid to the victims after they were evacuated from the attraction. Evacuees said they were not directed to a first aid station, although some of them were visibly affected with skin and breathing problems.

Ornelas could not be reached Sunday evening to comment specifically on what the park patrons said.

However, in a statement issued earlier Sunday, Ornelas said: “Some guests at the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction . . . began to experience minor discomfort. Symptoms included cough, tightness of the chest and slight skin irritation. About 30 guests were seen at the park’s first aid station.”

She confirmed that six were treated at the park’s expense at Western Medical Center-Anaheim.

The ride was reopened later Saturday night after “no problems were found,” she said, and continued to operate Sunday.

But on Sunday night, many of the Disneyland attractions were closed down for an estimated 90 minutes because of an apparent electrical problem, according to one park patron. Anaheim police said they had no reports of power outages elsewhere in the city, and Disney officials could not be reached for comment on the report.

In Saturday’s incident, Anaheim Fire Department hazardous-material specialists were not called, department officials said Sunday.

Victims from Saturday night’s incident said they learned the most about what had happened from physicians who treated them at Western Medical Center.

“We were told by the doctor at the hospital that it was caused by some kind of gas like Mace, but not Mace,” said Hughes. She, her husband, Chris; son Patrick, 11, and Patrick’s 11-year-old friend Clayton Pence all were treated at the hospital.

Sandra Skabelund, 24, of Mesa, Ariz., similarly said in an interview Sunday that a doctor at the hospital told her the cause of the illness “mostly likely was something in the Mace family.” Skabelund suffered irritated eyes, dizziness and breathing problems, she said. “I thought I was going to faint,” Skabelund said of her condition after she exited the ride.

John M. Boop, a vice president and spokesman for the hospital, cited patient confidentiality in saying he could not comment on the cause of the illnesses. Boop confirmed that all six people treated were released without hospitalization.

Lori Bottomley of San Bernardino, who accompanied her sister-in-law Skabelund to the hospital, said the trouble on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction occurred just as they were about to reach the end of the boat-ride fantasy.

“I realized I was having trouble breathing,” she said. “We were in the boats, and we were not moving. One (amusement park) worker came down there with a handkerchief over his face. But there were no security people there or anyone telling us what to do. I started feeling nauseous and my throat hurt and I had headaches.”

Bottomley said after about three minutes of standing still, the boats finally moved into the exit area. She and the other stranded passengers disembarked.

Bottomley said no one from the amusement park offered any advice about seeing the park’s first-aid station. But she said she, Skabelund and others in her party decided to seek first aid because of continuing problems with breathing.

Later, the Disneyland first-aid workers offered to take the ride victims to Western Medical Center, Bottomley said. “We went there because Sandra was really getting sick,” she said.

Hughes, in a separate interview, said her son and his 11-year-old friend still had discolored skin blotches Sunday.

“Their faces are still red, but not as red as they were last night,” she said.

Hughes was critical of the park’s response to a problem at the boat ride once it became clear that something was making patrons sick.

She said park employees came down into the tunnel-like, semidarkened ride shortly after boats had stopped and people began coughing and gasping. She said the employees had handkerchiefs over their faces, but made no effort to keep the boats moving or get the Disneyland guests outside. She estimated that the riders were stuck in the tunnel “two to five minutes.”

Hughes noted that some of the boat passengers became violently ill. She said she saw one young boy later in the first-aid station at Disneyland who “was on a cot and he just couldn’t stop vomiting,” Hughes said.

Hughes and Bottomley both said Sunday that they want to know the exact cause of the sickness that affected so many people so quickly.

“I’m concerned because something has happened to us and we don’t know how long it’s going to affect us,” Bottomley said. “I want to know if there’s more to it.”