Thirty visitors to the Osaka Universal Exhibition were hospitalized Thursday after a suspension of the metro services which forced tens of thousands of people to spend the night on the site.
Wednesday evening, the metro line which links the exhibition to the city of Osaka was interrupted by a power outage, causing long queues at the only station which serves the event, where thousands of people remained stuck for hours.
Many, including families with children, ended up spending the night inside and outside the exhibition site, some sleeping on benches or in pavilions turning into a reception center.
AFP
The transport service could not be restored until the early hours of the morning on Thursday and 36 people were sent to the hospital for symptoms such as headache and dizziness, according to the exhibition organizers.
The latter apologized for “the huge inconveniences” caused, attributing the breakdown to a short circuit.
“There were so many people at the station that you felt like it was in a steam bath,” said a woman with a young child with a local TV channel MBS News on Wednesday evening.
AFP
The staff tried to distract visitors by illuminating objects and broadcasting music.
“We made a night walk and were able to visit all the pavilions, while during the day, we were wasting our time to queue,” said another woman in MBS.
“So in the end, this experience remains tolerable,” she added.