New Delhi: Twenty-four students of a municipal school in Delhi’s Naraina area were taken ill and hospitalised Friday following an alleged “gas leak” incident nearby, officials said.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said 15 students were admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and they are doing fine.
The rest were sent to the Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital, a senior official of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi told PTI.
“The students fell sick apparently due to some gas leak incident near the school. All students are fine, they are being attended to by doctors at the two hospitals,” he said.
Officials from the civic health department rushed to the two hospitals and also to the school. The education department of the MCD is also on the job, the official added.
“We will be probing at our level too to find out what caused this incident,” the senior official said.
In a statement issued later, the MCD said, “The gas leak had taken place at the nearby railway tracks”.
A team of doctors from the MCD’s health department and officials of the education department are also present at the hospital to monitor the situation, it said.
According to police, they received a call regarding some students falling sick and vomiting at Nigam Pratibha Vidyalaya in Inderpuri.
“As per information available so far, 23 children have been sent to hospital and regular updates are being obtained from hospitals. As per the latest update, all of them are feeling fine,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vichitra Veer said.
According to initial assessment, a foul smell filled some classrooms, which made the children feel sick. Apparently, the children had just eaten. The smell has subsided, but as a precaution, all classrooms have been vacated, the DCP said.
“Further examination of the premises is being done to ascertain the source of the smell. There is a railway track nearby. However, it is yet to be ascertained where the smell was emanating from,” Veer said.
AAP MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak met the students at the RML Hospital and said they were doing fine.
“Preliminary examination by doctors has ruled out the possibility of food poisoning… Investigation is underway to ascertain where this gas came from since there was nothing in school that could have led to it.
“People are saying a train was passing by and possibly this gas came from there. An MCD team is probing it. We have spoken to doctors. The children will be discharged by 6 pm,” he said.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva met the students at RML hospital. He said neither the students nor the teachers were able to say what caused the incident and the civic body should probe the matter.
“The students said they were sitting in their classroom when they got a very strong smell which caused vomiting and unconsciousness,” the BJP leader said.
In 2017, a chemical leak from the Tughlakabad container depot had affected over 450 girl students, a few teachers and some residents.
PTI