Hostage deaths reach 118 after rescue

TBILISI, Georgia, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The immobilizing gas used in the rescue of hundreds of hostages from the Chechen-held theater was the cause of death of at least two foreign national hostages, their diplomatic missions said Sunday, as the hostage death toll climbed to 118. The diplomatic missions of Kasakhstan and the Netherlands each announced that one of their citizens had succumbed to the gas, the BBC reported, although Russian officials have said the gas itself was not the sole cause of death of any of the hostages.