Coughing Fits, Strange Smell Force BART Train Evacuation, Nothing Found

WEST OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- A strange odor, noxious fumes, and train car full of coughing passengers triggered police to evacuate the entire BART train, created a domino effect of delays system wide, and spawned news stations to launch their helicopters, but after a short investigation, nothing was found.

Shortly before 11 a.m. BART police searched for any residue, and sniffed for any odor, and found nothing.  The train loaded back up and proceeded on, but not before the incident backed up trains in the East Bay, waiting for clearance to proceed past West Oakland and into the Transbay tube.

The system was slowly returning to normal 11 a.m., but residual delays in the SFO/Millbrae directions may continue.

While police could not find the source of the odor, plenty of commenters on Facebook have their own ideas of what it was.

In:
• BART
• Alameda County