Twenty-two children lay up with gas poisoning in south of Russia

20.04.2006, 17.47
MOSCOW, April 20 (Itar-Tass) --Twenty-two schoolchildren hospitalized with gas poisoning are undergoing a medical examination at hospitals in Krasnodar in the south of Russia. The children are in satisfactory condition and might be allowed to go home on Thursday evening, hospital personnel said.

The incident occurred at a school building in Krasnodar early on Thursday. Unknown gas leaked into the school building from the outside. Teachers and schoolchildren said the gas resembled hydrogen sulfide.

Everyone was immediately evacuated from the school building, a source from the Southern regional center of the Ministry for Emergency Situations told Tass. Twenty-seven children aged from nine to sixteen were brought to hospitals for a medical examination. Five of them have been dismissed from the hospital already.

Experts have examined the school building, but a source of the poisonous gas has not been found. An investigation into the incident continues.

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