KITAMI, Japan, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A gas leak in a Kitami, Japanese, killed at least two people Friday and injured four others so severely they were hospitalized.
Firefighters in Kitami -- on the northern island of Hokkaido -- responded to a report of a gas leak from the Hokkaido Gas Co., the Mainichi Daily News reported. In a house to house search, they found the bodies of two men and four other people collapsed in their homes.
The cause of death has been tentatively identified as carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless.
Other residents of the neighborhood were evacuated to an elementary school.
Police in Kitami say a break in a gas pipe may have been caused by cold weather.
A woman was found dead in her home by her husband on Thursday, and carbon monoxide is suspected.
