CBRN event in Japan on Mon 20th March 1995

Tokyo, 20 March 1995, morning rush-hour.

Millions of commuters step out into a bright spring morning and on to one of the world's busiest underground systems.

Also on board the trains: five bags filled with liquid nerve agent, left by members of a doomsday cult.

The packages were leaking. Passengers felt stinging fumes hitting their eyes. 

The toxin struck victims down in a matter of seconds, leaving them choking and vomiting, some blinded and paralysed. Thirteen people died and at least 5,800 were injured in five co-ordinated attacks on three train lines.

The cause was Sarin, a nerve agent developed by the Nazis. It was the worst domestic terror attack ever carried out on Japanese soil.

The culprits were Aum Shinrikyo, an obscure religious group who believed the end of the world was coming.

After years on death row, the cult's leader Shoko Asahara was put to death on 6 July, along with several of his followers.