When you think of a Metro network, images like this might pop into mind. I know for me it brings back memories of the Jubilee line at 6.45am at Canada Water. If you've been there, then you know what I mean. Being so close to your fellow travel compatriots, apart from being a great way to break coughs, colds and a certain current event virus, it is also a valuable target for people with nefarious reasons. Although I've painted a London underground style picture, today we're actually looking at the Tokyo subway and an incident in 1995. The Tokyo Metro is the gold standard for efficient railway operation, and is something to really gaze in orat. The frequency and predictability of the trains would be it's a kill's heel in an attack, however. You see, in a more efficient and network, it's at transporting people, no more efficient, it can be at transporting a biological weapon, meaning a higher exposure rate to the public. Now we'll go into more detail in a bit, but the weapon of choice, Sarin, can be very effective on board a very packed subway train. And as such, I'm going to rate this disaster here, 8 on a patented plane deflux disaster scale. This is due to the potential that the attack could have had for many more deaths, if it wasn't for the poorly manufactured Sarin. And I'm going to rate it here, 6 on my historical legacy scale, as lessons have been learnt, but subway networks around the world are still vulnerable. Before we go onto the attack, let's have a look at who was behind it. Now I'm not going to go into too much detail here as we don't normally talk about anything religious on plane difficult. However, there is a great episode of the Necro Nome pod on the Umsumrikyo Japanese new religious movement, and this was who was linked to the attack in 1995. So I'll be referring to the perpetrator of the attack as the group or other non-descriptive terms, and I won't be mentioning any attackers by name as well. The group started in 1984 in a one-bedroom apartment in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, starting off as a yoga and meditation class. The movement developed into a new religious organisation during the 1980s. It gained official status as a religious organisation in 1989, and attracted a large number of graduates from Japan's elite universities, which in turn helped boost its popularity. In 1993, the group started manufacturing their own nerve agents after a smaller baritory in a Kamei Kui-shi-ki complex, named Satyan 7 was built in November 1992. During this period, they had tried to make automatic rifles and anfrax, as well as many other different types of weapons, for an attack on the Japanese people to try and overthrow the government. By 1995, the group had been responsible for several incidents, including assassinations, VX attacks, and an earlier sarin attack. Fearing an attack on their compound, the group decided to carry out a massive attack on the Tokyo population, using sarin to try and distract the Japanese authorities. Before we have a look at the event, let's find out what sarin is and how it is deadly. Sarin is a colourless and odorous, extremely toxic, synthetic, organophosphorous compound. It is classed as a chemical weapon, and depending on a dose, can kill you between one to ten minutes after exposure. The agent is thought to be up to 26 times more deadly than cyanide, and is toxic to human beings, on both ingestion and skin contact. Meaning, people assisting victims can also be affected. After exposure, the victim will experience the following symptoms, a runny nose, tightness in the chest, and constriction of the pupils. Later on, difficulty breathing and nausea would follow. As they continue to lose control of bodily functions, vomiting, defecation, urination may be experienced by the victim. Sarin is an inhibitor of acicolinesterase, which is an organic chemical used in the brain and is released by motor neurons of the nervous system to activate muscles. The agent has been used by many countries since its discovery in 1938, and its first known victim was Ronald Madison in Porton Down. Maybe I should cover that in a future video. Sarin is very unstable and evaporates from liquid to gas quickly, but also to case in a relatively short amount of time, meaning it is very deadly but not for long. The Satyan 7 was a very small but very well equipped and stocked manufacturing facility. But this did not ensure safe operation, as a site experienced several accidental releases of various agents. This led to many of the workers falling ill to mild sarin exposure. But in the poor conditions, the group members managed to make 3kg of sarin, which was used in the Matsumoto attack in 1994. As a little side tangent, this attack used a converted refrigerator truck to pump a cloud of sarin to its target, which is absolutely insane. The attack killed 7 people in the immediate aftermath and an 8-14 years later with over 50 injured. Sorry a bit side track there, with a tip off that the compound would be raided, frantically made more sarin for another attack in the hope of creating a distraction to local authorities. Due to the rushing of the production process, this time around the quality was only half of that at the Matsumoto attack, and instead of a colourless liquid, had a brownish hue. Around 30kg to the agent was manufactured and placed into plastic bags, ready to be used in one of Japan's worst terrorist attacks. This leads us onto the attack on the Toko Subway on the 20th of March 1995. Five attackers and five getaway drivers set out to release the deadly agent into several trains on the Toko Subway in the rush hour peak. Each attacker had two bags filled with sarin and an umbrella with a sharpened point to pierce the bags. Three lines were selected, the chi-yoda line, the maranuchi line and the hibiii line. The attackers had set direction on where to puncture their bags on trains heading in particular directions. This was to ensure that the attack happened at the same moment on five different trains that were travelling to the centre of Tokio to create maximum damage. After the bag was punctured, the sarin liquid will begin to evaporate, and its fumes will permeate the railway carriages affected by the attacks. Not long after the attackers had fled their respective targets, the trains passengers started to fill the effects of the agent. The worst train for casualties was hibiii line A720S, the South West Bounds 0743. The attacker on this train made the most amount of punctures in his packets of sarin. Not long after the attackers had escaped, passengers started to fill sick. Noticing the large liquid soaked package on the floor and assuming it was the culprit, one of the passengers aboard the train kicked the packets onto codon macho station's platform. With a puddle still on the floor, the train continued on and more passengers were feeling ill. By the time the train reached to Juki station, multiple casualties parled on the platform. Eventually all of five affected trains were taken out of service for investigation and the cause of the passenger injuries. Many of the injured suffered from vision problems with many experienced convulsions, shortness of breath and nausea. Many of the affected stations were strewn with injured as they awaited treatment and transportation to hospital. In over 600 were transported to hospital, with nearly 5,000 making their own way for treatment across Tokyo's medical centres. Some of the less affected actually went to work with many only realising their exposure after reading news reports. Juni event many of the victims were secondary exposures from people already exposed with the agent amongst their clothes or on their skin. Not knowing the cause of the attack meant that subway workers inadvertently were also affected, leading to mass panic and chaos on the platforms. In total, three lines were affected, necessitating decontamination works. The efficiency of the subway system meant that the affected victims were kept in service longer than they should have, leaving more people open to exposure. Medicine for Sarin poisoning had to be shipped in from smaller towns, where it is used as an antidote for herbicide and insecticide poisoning. The bullet train network was used for the transportation. Just over a month after the attack for compound owned by Umshin Rikio was raided by the police and JDF in an arm show of force, fearing a violent retaliation from the group. In total, all of the perpetrators were caught with the last being arrested in 2012. In all five of the attackers were sentenced to death, and were executed by hanging along with other key leaders of the group in 2018. The remaining perpetrators of the attack were all given life sentences and these were mainly the getaway drivers. Only one of the people that actually set off the Sarin attack on the subway network in 1995 showed remorse, and because of this, he was given a life sentence. The attack shows how mass transit networks are vulnerable, as a design deficiency in transporting people leads to less strict security controls. I mean, imagine going through airport security for travelling on the tube. This video has been a bit of a different subject from normal, but I thought it was really interesting. 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