Following day was a national holiday <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernal_equinox>. The attack came at the peak of the Monday morning rush hour on one of the world's busiest commuter transport systems. The Tokyo subway system transports millions of passengers daily; during rush hour, trains are frequently so crowded that it is nearly impossible to move. The liquid sarin <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin> was contained in plastic bags which each team then wrapped in newspapers. Each perpetrator carried two packets of sarin totalling approximately one litre <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litre> of sarin, except Yasuo Hayashi, who carried three bags. A single drop of sarin the size of the head of a pin can kill an adult. Carrying their packets of sarin and umbrellas with sharpened tips, the perpetrators boarded their appointed trains; at prearranged stations, each perpetrator dropped his package and punctured it several times with the sharpened tip of his umbrella before escaping to his accomplice's waiting get-away car. Sarin is an extremely potent organophosphate <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organophosphate> compound that disrupts the nervous system by inhibiting the cholinesterase enzyme by forming a covalent bond <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covalent_bond> with the particular serine <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serine> residue in the enzyme which forms the site where acetylcholine normally undergoes hydrolysis <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolysis>. The short- and long-term symptoms experienced by those affected included: bleeding <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood> from the nose and mouth, coma <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma>, convulsions <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convulsion>, difficulty breathing <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difficulty_breathing>, disturbed sleep 2and nightmares <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmare>, extreme sensitivity to ligh, foaming at the mouth, high fevers <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever>, influenza <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza>-like symptoms, loss of consciousness <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_consciousness>, loss of memory <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_memory>, nausea <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausea> and vomiting <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomiting>, paralysis <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paralysis>, post-traumatic stress disorder <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder>, respiratory problems, seizures <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seizure>, uncontrollable, trembling <HTTP://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trembling>, vision problems both temporary and permanent.