MONTREAL -- Carbon monoxide leaked out of a faulty heating unit on the ground floor of a Laval school on Wednesday, the fire department said, leading to the building's evacuation and sending 18 students to the hospital.
The presence of the gas was detected when many students at the school, Ecole Odyssée-des-Jeunes on Cyrille-Delage St. in the Auteuil district, started complaining of symptoms such as headaches and dizziness.
"I was having an exam, and then I heard this message we had to evacuate the school," Maya Esteleen, a student, said. "We just went outside, and we had to wait like an hour, and after we went to another school that's close to our school."
In all, paramedics brought 18 students and three adults to the hospital where they were treated for headaches and nausea. Several others were examined onsite to determine if they have been overexposed to carbon monoxide.
The school houses about 1,000 elementary and secondary students.
The school said its carbon monoxide detectors were working. The presence of such detectors in schools has been an area of focus since 35 children, and eight adults were hospitalized in 2019 after the gas filled a LaSalle elementary school.
After the air cleared on Wednesday, the Laval students returned to the school for their afternoon classes.
