Delhi: 28 students of MCD school fall sick due to gas leak in Naraina

New Delhi: Twenty-eight students of a municipal school in west Delhi's Naraina area were hospitalised on Friday with two of them requiring oxygen support after allegedly inhaling noxious fumes following a suspected "gas leak" incident nearby, officials said.

Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi said the students, including the two girls who were put on oxygen support in Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, are doing fine.

A senior police officer said a case has been registered under sections of 284 (negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC against unidentified people.

The Aam Aadmi Party's MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak, who met the ailing students at the hospital, said it is being claimed that the gas leaked from a train that was passing the railway tracks nearby.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), in a statement, said, "The gas leak occurred at the nearby railway tracks." However, the railways said they have not received any report of gas leak from any station and asserted that their wagons never transport any toxic gas that may pose a health hazard.

The MCD said 19 students were admitted to RML Hospital and nine at Acharya Bhikshuk Hospital.

All the nine students admitted at Acharya Bhikshuk Hospital have been discharged. Of the 19 students admitted in RML, 15 came by 11.28 am. Four more came after 3 pm, it said.

The civic body said all the students who were admitted to the hospital by 11.28 am are being discharged except one who has some pre-existing chronic gastric problem. "Hence, 14 students are being discharged and five are kept for observation. A teacher will stay in the hospital overnight to take care of the students,' it said.

Some parents of the affected children alleged the school authorities did not inform them about the incident. Children, who became ill, said they experienced stomach aches and breathing difficulty due to the foul smell.

Police said they received a call about some students falling sick and vomiting at Nigam Pratibha Vidyalaya in Inderpuri.

"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," Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vichitra Veer said.

The senior officer 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," he said. Following the incident, officials from the civic health department rushed to the two hospitals and the school. The education department of the MCD is also on the job, the official added.

"We will probe at our level too to find out what caused this incident," the senior official said.

A student's father said, "We went to the school where some people said children have been taken to RML hospital. That is how we came here." Another parent said, "After we learnt about the incident, we checked the nearby hospitals. Then a person told us that our children are in RML Hospital. We have been told that they ate something following which they fell ill." AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said that 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 the school that could have led to it. People are saying that a train was passing by and possibly this gas came from there. An MCD team is probing it," he said.

A railway spokesperson said train wagons never transport any toxic gases which may pose any health hazard.

"Moreover no such report of gas leakage has been reported from any station and there was no movement of any trains having gaseous contents passing in the area indicated during the time of incidence," he said.

Oberoi met the ailing students and said they were doing fine.

"I inform with a great feeling of relief that the two girls who were in RML on oxygen support are fine now. All the children admitted to both hospitals are fine now. We are working to rehabilitate the children to the safe confines of their homes now.

"Delhi Crime's Forensic team visited the school today. They will submit the report identifying the exact reason," she said in a post on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.

The MCD said officials have been directed to probe the incident and find the cause as well as the source of the gas leak.

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 a statement, Sachdeva accused the AAP of "misleading" the families of students by saying they have been affected by a gas leak.

In 2017, a chemical leak from the Tughlakabad container depot had affected over 450 girl students.