They must have used one hell of a lot of ammonia to cause so many people to become ill. I am surprised the workers that are responsible for this did not get sick from the fumes themselves. It is a good thing they did not mix in any products with bleach in them in their cleaning routine or they could have ended up killing people. Combining bleach and ammonia together will release fumes that can easily be fatal. Hopefully, the idiot(s) responsible for this get fired as there is no excuse for doing something like this. There is no way that using enough ammonia to sicken that many people was an accident, it was definitely done deliberately, although who knows for what reason. Every once in a while in the military you would get an @!$%# who would do something like this when they had been assigned the duty to clean the head (Navy term for a bathroom). They figured if they dumped a bunch of ammonia then no one would want go in to inspect the place to make sure they did a good job. Of course this would usually result in that person getting themselves in hot water and learning the hard way not to do something like that again.

I doubt the source of the fumes....must have been an American tourist who used the bathroom moments after probably taking down a couple of Burritos, Meat loaf, brocolli, taco bell's cheesy Gorditta filled with refried Beans and a side of onion rings...glad nobody was smoking at the time, they could have blew the airport into smitherines..

Does anyone know the where abouts of Larry Craig?

When I first read the headline, I thought someone must have had a really bad smelling bowel movement. But I don't think even mine would sicken 53 people. At least, I hope not!

JS in SD,

"Combining bleach and ammonia together will release fumes that can easily be fatal."

I had a friend whose girl friend's sister died from something like that while she was cleaning her bathroom . I don't know for sure if it was bleach and ammonia she had mixed, but whatever it was, the fumes from it were what killed her according to the autopsy.

This was most likely from a mixture of bleach and ammonia.

Ammonia alone isn't going to generate that many fumes.

Mix in a little bleach and you get a whole lot of nasty fumes.

.

This doesn't surprise me. Yesterday, I went to the office and the receptionist sprayed way too much lysol. I almost gagged from the smell. When you don't have good circulation in a restroom, it's stays there and gets people sick. I can believe it.

Awe great! Now the American TSA is going to want to probe our rectums for methane gas to prevent a similar "terrorist attack" over here!

I just don't see how just ammonia did this unless in Germany they can get a much higher concentration. This definitely sounds like a reaction with another chemical and bleach is a likely candidate. You would hope that cleaning crews understand the chemicals they are working with. It almost seems difficult to believe that this was purely an accident

What a totally useless article...six short sentences written as five paragraphs...but hey, what else can we expect from the NBC News staff?

Sounds like too many people ate some outdated knockwursts & sauerkraut and downed them some nasty jagermeister

They must clean old alleys with ammonia too.

:-) ahhhhh! That was an awesome shhhh... sorry guys.

WRONG WRONG WRONG. Too many people eat Cabbage Soup. That has to be the culprit.

deweydan,

"Too many people eat Cabbage Soup. That has to be the culprit."

That could be the culprit, but I think Cabbage Soup ("borshch" in Russian) is a more popular dish in the Slavic countries. I don't know how popular it is in Germany, though it might be popular there, too, since there are a lot of people of Slavic origin in Germany.

Sensible architects design in active ventilation systems with fans and in-ceiling ducting for bathrooms and restrooms to suck the foul air to the outside. Some don't to simply save on their budget, and instead, post up deodorant sprayer units. I'm sure that most people in hindsight regret that decision to have facilities without active ventilation. Spend a little more to have them designed in, and you can save everyone a lot of gross irritation ...and less public health violation charges, as well as a lot less lawsuits.

Those who fell ill were treated for nausea and sore eyes, The Berliner Morgenpost reported.

This just in, second headline:

Mass Upchucking in Berlin Sets Guinness World Record

There must be a lot of Americans flying into Berlin for Oktoberfest

or "Who does #2 work for?"

Steve....that combination actually lets off chlorine gas...Mustard gas is an entirely different animal.

mix a chili cheese jalapeno bean burrito with a side of boiled eggs washing it all down with a glass of Nesquik and you have an even deadlier combination of gas to create a global pandemic.... O.O

And the possible ruination of your underwear.

Yep, Blew some nasty big holes in a pair of underwear a few times with the big wet nasties.

Yeah. sloooow news day. Berlin is a beautiful and cool city, civilized and clean.

Nice to have a slow and easy weekend, we need a lot more of them.

Hiya PG, dididn't you notice that the story was an editors' pick?

What's that tell you?

Well you have to understand NBC's standards are very low!

It's a human interest story at best. A fluff piece. It's not like they used it on the main news page as the main headline.

How many courics - on average?

Some day - not soon enough - home builders are going to put super vent fans in bathrooms . . . . I think they sell these at the home improvement stores - they should be flying off the shelves. I think that bathroom odors are near the top of the list of why I prefer to live alone . . .

(With kraut and warm Old Milwaukee, uh, Heidelberg)

Because it has a headline and everything. Plus, it was written by the crack NBC News Staff.

Because they know a certain percentage of viners are such smartasses they are drawn to headlines like this like moths to a flame. They know they are guaranteed a certain number of "clicks" every time. (and here I am right along with the rest)

Wrong!!!!

Part of him still is....

You are right. Deadly to those that have not been expose to it in their lives. Those of us who have know what to do. Hint: We are children of OILFIELD TRASH. For those who did not know this, this is what people use call families that moved to a town who worked for oil companies.

When did they move Berlin?