Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack Research Paper

The Tokyo subway sarin attack was a act of domestic terrorism on March 20th, 1995 in Tokyo, japan by members of the cult Amu Shinrikyo. The cult members released sarin on three lines of the present-day Tokyo Metro during rush hour, killing 12 people, injuring 50 people and causing temporarily creating vision problems for nearly 5,000 others. (Foundation) The attack was directed against trains passing through the Kasumigaseki and Nagatacho lines, which is home to the Japanese government.

Sarin also called NATO is a highly toxic synthetic Organophosphorus compound. Organophosphorus is organic compounds containing phosphorus it is mostly used in pest control. It’s a colorless, odorless liquid it’s used as a weapon of mass destruction because of its potency to your nerves. (Foundation, Sarin) Exposure to it

Each attacker dropped the bag of sarin and then ripped it open releasing the liquids then got off the train and started waiting in the getaway car. The liquid soon started to turn into toxic fumes. The fumes started affecting the passenger and soon begin to spread at each stop to each passenger as they got on and off the train. Two subway train employees attempted to dispose of the bag of sarin and in between one to ten minutes they both died due to direct contact with fumes and skin exposer. A New York Times reporter describes the horrible scene “As the trains arrived in stations and opened their doors, passengers staggered out and collapsed on the platforms. Subway entrances soon looked like battlefields, as injured commuters lay gasping on the ground, some of them with blood gushing from the nose or mouth. Army troops from a chemical warfare unit rushed to the scene with special vehicles to clear the air, and men in gas masks and clothes resembling space suits probed for clues.”