Authorities in New York are still investigating the source of a mysterious gas-like odour in New York City that has left at least seven people in hospital in the city.
Speaking this afternoon, Mayor Bloomberg told a news conference that the city's air sensors had not shown an elevated level of natural gas, adding that commuter trains interrupted because of the smell were running again.
"We are getting several calls of a foul odour. Our units are responding. It's in various parts of the city," a police spokesman said earlier.
Witnesses reported detecting the smell from the southern tip of Manhattan up to midtown. CNN reported that one office building had been evacuated.
A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services said seven people presented to two hospitals - six in Hudson County and the other in Bergen County, complaining of symptoms relating to the odour.
Part of the New York-New Jersey PATH commuter train system has been closed due to the alert.
"The service has been suspended bettween Hoboken and 33rd (Street) and Journal Square and 33rd pending an investigation by Con Ed and the fire department," PATH spokesman Pasquale Difulco said.
Meanwhile, Texas police shut down 10 blocks of businesses in the heart of downtown Austin early today after dozens birds were found dead.
Experts were testing for any sort of environmental contaminant or gas or chlorine leaks that might have killed off the animals, police spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz said.
There were no reports of any humans harmed, but a 10-block stretch of the main north-south route through downtown, several side streets and all buildings in the area were blocked off and expected to remain off-limits until about noon, Chovanetz said.
The bird carcasses were found overnight along Congress Avenue between Sixth and Eighth streets.