Around 35 students from Chennai's Victory Matriculation Higher Secondary School, a private education institution in Thiruvottiyur, needed medical attention on Friday after they reported difficulty in breathing due to an alleged gas leak. Some students fainted after "an unpleasant smell" reportedly spread around the school, reports said.
As many as 20 students of Victory Matriculation HSS are still undergoing treatment while the rest were sent home, Chennai-based media reports said. A girl was transferred to Old Jail Road's Government Stanley Hospital for further treatment. However, doctors told media that her CT scan, X-ray, lung function and blood tests were all normal.
Speaking to the press, students reportedly said the affected kids started showing uneasiness around 12:30 PM on Friday. Breathing difficulty, burning eyes and throat issues were the common symptoms in most, they said. An unpleasant odour was persistent around the school compound for at least two days, they reportedly added.
Initially, the complaints were ignored by the teachers who resorted to serving the kids hot water as a remedy to their throat problem. However, within two hours, students started fainting in classrooms. Students of Classes VI to X were affected the most, The New Indian Express said in a report. The classrooms of the students who lost consciousness on Friday afternoon were all on the same floor of the school building, the news report added. Soon, the ill kids were rushed to the government hospital in Theradi.
To the further embarrassment of the school authorities, parents claimed that they were not informed about the development by the school management. Till 4:00 PM, they crowded at the school as well as the hospital, hotly demanding answers from the concerned.
While it is yet to be confirmed, authorities reportedly suspect that a gas leak at the school laboratory was the cause of the problem. But police officials who inspected Victory Matriculation HSS doubted this theory as the lab was not close to the part of the school campus where most students were affected, TNIE said. The laboratory was located on the left side of the building -- opposite to the classrooms of Classes VI to X were situated.
The mismatches in the development didn't end there as the NDRF claimed later in the evening that they too failed to "smell gas" in the school compound.
""As of now, I cannot tell the exact cause. We are yet to ascertain the exact cause. Our team came and assessed the situation, everything is normal, we did not smell any gas," NDRF commander AK Chauhan said.