High school boy, mom found gassed to death at home

The Mainichi Shimbun
March 13, 2008
Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080313p2a00m0na005000c.html

OKAYAMA -- A high school boy and his mother were found dead at their home apparently after one of them generated hydrogen sulfide by mixing detergents and other chemicals to fatally gas themselves, police said.

At around 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, a 14-year-old junior high school boy came home to find his 17-year-old brother and 43-year-old mother collapsed in a second-floor room of their home in Okayama, and called for an ambulance. The two were admitted to a local hospital where they died shortly afterwards.

The room where the two were found collapsed was filled with a foul smell, and more than 10 bottles of chemicals such as detergents were found there. Investigators suspect that one of the two mixed the chemicals to generate hydrogen sulfide and gassed themselves, and are investigating the cause of their death.

Paramedics said they found several liters of mixed chemicals in a clothes storage bin in the room.

（Mainichi Japan） March 13, 2008

Mother, son die of gas inhalation in Okayama home

Japan Today
Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 10:31 EST
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/430929

OKAYAMA — A woman and her son on Wednesday died of gas inhalation at their house in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, in what police believe may have been a botched chemical experiment or suicide. The woman, 43, and her son, 17, were found by his brother, 14, around 6:15 p.m. The two were taken to hospital but died later. A female neighbor was also taken to hospital after being sickened by the gas.

According to police, the 17-year-old son was lying on his bed in his room on the second floor of the house, while his mother lay on the floor next to the bed. Police found more than 10 bottles of cleaning fluid and other chemicals in the room. They believe the boy might have been trying to make a gaseous substance in an experiment that got out of control, or that he may have tried to commit suicide, and his mother was overwhelmed by the gas before she could stop him.