Yamaguchi: One Dead, 20 Sick After Hotel Gas Leak

A young photographer died and 20 others fell ill after a gas leak in a Yamaguchi Prefecture hotel in Japan.

The Yamaguchi Shuhou Plaza Hotel was occupied by around 80 people at the time, most of them part of an elementary school group from Takatsuki visiting the famous Akiyoshi Cave.

A photographer in his 20s died after being taken to a hospital and a teacher briefly lost consciousness, according to the police. There were no students who felt seriously ill, they said.

The police said three nurses accompanying the students and teachers first collapsed soon after entering a top-floor room in the three-story hotel, while most of the students were eating dinner on the first floor. Teachers and others who tried to rescue them also collapsed.

The Yamaguchi prefectural police said the poisoning appeared to be from carbon monoxide. The students will visit the mine Wednesday as planned, before returning to their home town of Takatsuki in the Osaka Prefecture.