Cayenne pepper scattered in the Place-d’Armes station forced the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) to suspend service on three lines on Tuesday morning during rush hour.
The incident took place shortly before 8:30 a.m., when many Montrealers go to work.
“An inconvenient cayenne pepper type substance was broadcast at the Place-d’Armes station. It is necessary to interrupt the service on the neighboring sections and to evacuate several stations within a certain radius of the incident to allow emergency ventilation of the tunnels and stations”, indicated the STM to the QMI Agency.
The orange line was interrupted between Snowdon and Beaubien due to the need for emergency ventilation, while the section between Beaubien and Montmorency was stopped due to the intervention of the emergency services with an injured / sick person at Crémazie station.
The yellow line and the green line also had to be completely interrupted for regarding 24 minutes, in order to evacuate the uncomfortable substance and breathe fresh air into the stations and tunnels concerned, said the STM.
For its part, the Montreal police confirmed that a few people had been inconvenienced by cayenne pepper, and treated at the scene.
Around 9 a.m., the STM announced the gradual resumption of services on the orange line.