Those were unconscionable losses.
As the story comes out, there was no antidote available and the emergency rooms were not notified as to treatment.
I read that all the hostages were alive when troops entered the building. With the kind of force available to the Russians there should have been a soldier for every hostage, with antidote, charging in behind the first forces. The antidote for narcotics is fast, cheap, effective and easy to administer.
Tragic and unnecessary.
Arf (talk about gassing your own people - does it look like this?)