DEADLY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION FOUND!

Sarin Nerve Agent Leaks From Ala. Bunker

Wed Mar 3, 2004

ANNISTON, Ala. - A trace amount of sarin nerve agent leaked from a weapons storage bunker at Anniston Army Depot, but no one was injured.

Workers were conducting routine checks for leaks Tuesday when a monitor detected the agent outside the airtight bunker where the weapons are stored.

Sarin did not escape the area, and the concentration was not enough to hurt anyone, said Cathy Coleman, a spokeswoman Anniston Chemical Activity, which oversees the stockpile.

Tons of munitions are stored in dirt-covered, concrete igloos at the depot 50 miles east of Birmingham.

Since 1982, the Army has found 897 leaking chemical weapons in storage at the depot, where the military is using an incinerator to destroy the aging weapons.