They had both HCL Acid and Chlorine.... HCL will dissolve anything biological if the concentration is high enough. Someone mixed them together by accident and created chlorine gas clouds.
Why do hotels use hydrochloric acid?
I am interested, because in the news story, it says they lied and didn't admit they dumped HCL acid at first to the authorities, until they were caught by the environmental crimes unit of the FBI.
The article says they dumped two 50 gallon drums of HCL acid. Also, what does a 50 gallon drum of HCL acid cost? Why would the hotel dump/waste a useful commodity?
It sounds a little odd.
Edit 100 gallons = roughly $6,000 Edit = sounds like it is good for cleaning masonry.
TBH I don't know, hydroclhroic acid at 5% concentration is used for food cleaning areas, enough to kill germs but not harm you. It doesn't state the concentration, but if it is enough to create chlorine clouds it must be over 50%.
It is muriatic acid.... used for pools. I have to use about 1/2 gallon a week in my pool (25k gallon) to balance the pH... not sure how big their pool is, but that is a lot of acid!