Gas-like odour causes train service delays

AUTHORITIES were investigating the source of a mysterious gas-like odour that stretched across a large part of Manhattan yesterday that prompted officials to suspend some commuter rail services to New York.

The Fire Department began getting calls concerning the smell around 9am, said spokesman Tim Hinchey.

The cause was not immediately identified.

“The smell was very strong. It was very scary,” said Yolanda Van Gemd, an administrator at ASA, a business school near the Empire State Building. The school was evacuated as a precaution.

The Port Authority suspended PATH train services between New Jersey and the Madison Square Garden area.

Across the Hudson River in Jersey City, Maria Pignataro, the spokeswoman for Mayor Jerramiah Healy, said officials were told the odour in their city was due to a gas leak in the Chelsea area of Manhattan.