Pupils Taken to Hospitals After Gas Line Ruptures

More than 40 children were taken to hospitals complaining of nausea, headaches and dizziness after a gas line ruptured at a Maywood elementary school Wednesday.

None of the children were seriously ill and the school remained open. But the sight of ambulances and news crews surrounding the campus panicked dozens of parents who swarmed Fishburn Avenue Elementary School in search of their children.

Tearful parents--many assuming the worst--pressed up against a chain-link fence surrounding the playground and called out for their children. Parents were kept along a sidewalk outside the campus while school officials worked to reunite families.

School officials allowed children who were not taken to a hospital to leave with their parents. Many children were shaken by the sight of their fellow students being taken away in ambulances.

A tearful Cynthia Leal, 10, embraced her mother, Guadalupe.

“The paramedics came and took kids away, and they said we had to stay outside,” said the fifth-grader, wiping her eyes. “It was really scary.”

“With all that’s been happening, I thought the worst,” Guadalupe Leal said, referring to the Littleton, Colo., school shooting and recent bomb threats at local schools.

“When we saw all the panic, we thought it was something really serious,” said Conrado Arroyo, who was relieved to learn that his son and daughter were safe. Like many parents, he took them home anyway.

The most seriously ill students, four who were reportedly vomiting, were listed in good condition, according to a spokeswoman for St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.

By the end of the day, most of the hospitalized students were treated and released.

The leak began about 8:30 a.m. when a piece of asphalt lying near a ditch fell on a two-inch gas line, rupturing it.

Teachers and administrators evacuated two fifth-grade classrooms, sending the students to the playground.

Fire officials said natural gas is nontoxic and was not a serious threat in this case because the leak was outside and workers quickly shut down the gas line. But as a precaution, firefighters took 42 children who complained of headaches and nausea to nine hospitals.

As ambulances and firetrucks pulled up to the campus, frightened parents began to rush to the school. Administrators set up tables in the playground to put nervous parents in contact with their children.

“Here’s Jonathan,” said a school employee, leading a scared boy out through the gate.

“Jonathan? Which Jonathan?” cried Maywood resident Carol Martis, craning her neck, trying to see over the crowd. She caught a glimpse of the boy and sighed. “He’s not mine.”

“I’m nervous, very nervous,” she said, waiting to locate her son. “I want to get him out now. You feel helpless, not being able to get your child right away.”