Chemical mix at Eagan hotel sickens 6

She started out wanting to bring two containers of chemicals down to one. She ended up with a toxic emergency.

The potent gas that resulted after a maintenance employee at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Eagan unknowingly combined two different chemicals sent six hotel employees to Regions Hospital on Friday. It led to an evacuation of the building on Pilot Knob Road, south of Interstate 494.

None of the hotel guests was sickened. Five of the six workers were released from the hospital by early Friday afternoon.

But the mixture of laundry chemicals, known as Destainer and Sour VII, produced enough phosgene gas to knock the maintenance worker to the ground and sicken two others nearby.

"That can be very deadly," said Tom Garrison, spokesman for the city of Eagan. "It causes severe respiratory distress and is corrosive."

A fourth employee found the three choking and having trouble breathing, pulled them out of the room, moved the chemicals outside and called for help.

Altogether, five maintenance employees and one employee from accounting were sickened by the gas.

The employees' names have not been released.

"It seems to be an innocent mistake," Garrison said.

Although none of the hotel guests became ill, he said they did report a chlorine-like smell in the lobby of the hotel.

One block of Corporate Center Drive next to the hotel was closed to all traffic until about 2 p.m.

About 75 emergency personnel and vehicles from the Eagan police and fire departments and the Dakota County Special Operations Team swarmed the area after a 911 call at about 10:30 a.m. Some of them wore neon green hazardous material suits and bright orange boots as they carried containers out of the building.

Hotel acting general manager Lydia Katoa said, "All our employees are safe. All our guests are safe." She declined to comment further.

There were about 20 hotel employees in the building when the incident occurred.

The hotel had 59 registered guests, but many of them were already out of the hotel for the day at the time of the evacuation, Garrison said. Those who were still around were taken to a Hampton Inn in Eagan.

Eagan Fire Chief Mike Scott said the dangerous gas dissipated quickly after the incident. Emergency personnel opened windows and doors and used fans to increase ventilation in the laundry area on the first floor of the hotel.

Bay West, a St. Paul-based private company, came to the hotel at about 1:30 p.m. to neutralize the mixture and take it away to dispose of it, Scott said.

Katie Humphrey • 952-882-9056