Mystery Smell Settles over Manhattan

New York officials evacuated a number of buildings and shut down some trains
after a mysterious gaslike odor was reported Monday.

A New York Police Department spokesman said an air quality test determined
that the air is not hazardous, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said
there is no indication terrorism was involved.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the smell "unpleasant" but said it
posed no harm.

"One thing we are very confident of, it's not dangerous," Bloomberg said.
"How long and what the sources are, we just don't know."

The pervasive odor was reported throughout Manhattan and as far away as
Newark, New Jersey, 10 miles west of the Big Apple. In New York, the smell was
reported from Midtown to Battery Park City.

Authorities are investigating the source of the smell. Several buildings were
evacuated, and the PATH commuter trains along the Sixth Avenue line were
temporarily suspended. The odor had no effect on subway service in the city.

New York police initially said no gas leak was reported, but a spokesman for
Mayor Jerramiah Healy in Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River,
said the odor was emanating from a leak near Manhattan's Greenwich Village.

Bloomberg later confirmed a "small gas leak" near Sixth Avenue and Bleecker
Street but said the smell appears to be a natural gas additive. Natural gas has
no smell, so an additive, mercaptan, is included to give it a detectable smell
in the event of a leak.

However, Bloomberg said that he didn't believe the Manhattan gas leak could
account for the smell being reported in New Jersey.

"We're all working together to pinpoint the nature of the leak," he said. "So
far, the city's air sensors do not report any elevated level of gas."

The mayor said that "these things are normal, happen all the time."

The police said utility provider Consolidated Edison told officials there's
been no drop in gas pressure in the city.

No injuries have been reported, according to the Office of Emergency
Management.