Local News in Brief : Cloud Raises a Stink

A foul-smelling, noxious cloud hung over much of the South Bay Wednesday morning, triggering more than 1,000 complaints to authorities and sending nine people to hospitals with minor health problems.

Officials of two school districts kept children indoors and some employers let workers go home for the day.

Air quality officials said they were still investigating but suspected that the Unocal oil refinery in Wilmington was the source of the cloud--a white haze that hung over Torrance, Redondo Beach, Wilmington, Lomita and parts of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for at least two hours.

Unocal spokesman Barry Lane denied that the plant was responsible but acknowledged that equipment failed twice Wednesday morning, forcing the refinery to burn off excess gases and release hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs.