Man held over pepper spray panic on subway

A man who decided to try out a pepper spray in a crowded metro train, resulting in 13 people requiring hospital treatment, has been held by police.

The incident in the subway in Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong, led to a stampede of panicked passengers.

The 22-year-old man, surnamed Xu, from the neighboring Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said he and a friend, surnamed Yang, 20, also a Guangxi native, took Line 5 on Tuesday morning.

According to police, Yang showed Xu a bottle of pepper spray he was carrying.

Curious to see how it worked, Xu sprayed some on the floor of the metro train which had just pulled into a station.

But the irritant quickly began affecting passengers who panicked and rushed to escape the carriage. Xu and Yang also fled the train, police said.

Injured in stampede

Officers found a bottle of pepper spray at the scene. Made by a producer in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the spray is intended to be used in self-defense.

Xu was later caught, while Yang handed himself in to police yesterday afternoon.

The railway operator said 13 passengers were injured in the stampede.

Six have since left hospital and the remainder are in a stable condition, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

The incident caused a 10-minute delay on Metro Line 5.

Guangzhou metro police also said that two men fighting in a carriage on Tuesday evening have each received a 10-day administrative detention.

Frightened passengers fled the carriage, with bags knocked over in the panic.

No other passengers were injured in the fracas but the Line 6 train involved was delayed for three minutes.