UPI
FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas firefighters said a suspected gas leak that sent 34 people to hospitals turned out to be caused by a spray of perfume and people’s imaginations.
Lt. Kent Worley, a Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman, said two employees “reported some dizziness in close association with someone spraying on some perfume” Wednesday.
A supervisor made an announcement “over the building’s PA system saying that anyone feeling these symptoms should exit the building to an outside location,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Thursday.
Worley said many reported the symptoms as a result of “psychosomatic behavior,” which medical experts often refer to as “contagious fear,” tied to the mistaken belief that a gas leak was to blame.
The building was declared safe by a hazardous materials team and more than a thousand people went back to work in the building.
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