10 jeepney passengers ill after tear gas can falls from passing motorcycle

MANILA, Philippines—More than 10 jeepney passengers had to be rushed to the hospital on Thursday after they sniffed a chemical that sizzled out of a can inside the moving jeepney they were riding in Pasig City.

Police Officer 2 Catherine “Gab” Capinpin, public information officer of the Eastern Police District, said the 15 passengers and the driver were rushed to the Rizal Medical Center after the incident on Arayat Street in Barangay (village) Bagong Ilog between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Police could not give the names of the victims as of this posting.

Capinpin said investigators learned from the passengers that a can had fallen off a motorcycle that was travelling right in front of them.

She said the jeepney hit the can, opening it by force of impact.

The can, Capinpin said, released smoke.

The jeepney driver was forced to stop his vehicle on the side of the road after he and his passengers began feeling dizzy after they sniffed the smoke, she said.

“Then the (explosives and ordnance division of Pasig) arrived as first responders and first aid,” she said, noting they had been tipped off by concerned citizens.

She said authorities who later analyzed the can found that it contained tear gas, and not sulphur as was initially believed.

Police are looking for the man on the motorcycle for him to make him explain why he had tear gas, Capinpin said.