43 from Montreal school hospitalized

Students and staff nauseous, dizzy after carbon monoxide leak

MONTREAL— Carbon monoxide levels in the hallways of a Montreal elementary school where 43 people fell ill and required hospital treatment Monday were as much as five times the level that usually triggers an evacuation, a fire official said.

“At 35 (parts per million) of carbon monoxide in the air, we evacuate a building,” Eric Martel, an operations chief with the Montreal fire department, told The Canadian Press.

At École des Découvreurs, in the LaSalle neighbourhood, firefighters detected up to 175 parts per million in the halls, and 900 in the furnace room

Martel said a defective heating system was to blame for the gas, which left dozens of students and staff feeling nausea and dizziness. Some were vomiting, and an emergency room physician said nine children lost consciousness at the school.

On Monday afternoon, the Montreal Children’s Hospital reported that 10 patients who received the most serious exposure — including the nine who lost consciousness — had been transferred to another area hospital to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The treatment involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room.

“The good news is all of these patients are in stable condition,” said Dr. Robert Barnes, the hospital’s associate director of professional services.