Gas leak knocked five students, their teacher, and a peon unconscious on Thursday at St Xavier's Convent here.The school called a fire-rescue team that moved all seven, including the children aged between 12 and 13, to hospital.
Within minutes, the parents of all the children in the
school were at the gates of the evacuated building.
The school authorities declined to speak with the media on reasons for uneasy feeling to the students. The gas is believed to have leaked from the chemistry laboratory, where students were learning about an experiment. The administration has seized the fire extinguisher cylinder that the school authorities claimed might have leaked.
"A gas leak from the fire extinguisher is believed to have made the children and their teacher unconscious," said subdivisional magistrate (SDM) Shruti. "We are investigating."
Senior medical officer Dr Satish Goyal, who supervised the patients, stated them to be out of danger. "The students, their teacher, and the peon were admitted to hospital around 9am after gas leak," he said. "We gave them prompt first aid and medical treatment."
The children and the two members of the staff left the Civil Hospital without official discharge. Their condition when they left was stable, Dr Goyal has said. "We did not discharge the patients; they left on their own," he said. "We had advised them to stay in hospital till the evening."