Over 70 children at a NY elementary school in are ill after drinking from water fountains contaminated by an air-conditioning chemical, or coolant, and following air conditioner repair.
The elementary school children began complaining of stomach aches and nausea near 1:30 p.m., the school’s principal calling 911, followed by ambulance emergency services transported 71 children to New York area hospitals, asking MTA to assist with two city buses. Though some of the children were vomiting, New York City Fire Department describes the injuries as "minor", saying that emergency officials expect all of the elementary schoolkids to be released from the hospital later today. Kids drank coolant and the Fire Department is describing injuries from the incident as "minor"?
The P.S. 20 school in Flushing in Queens is also called the John Bowne school. It has 1,450 students including a new wing with central air-conditioning. That air-conditioning was not working this morning when the elementary school called an air conditioning repair contractor, Bayside Refrigeration, to fix the problem.
Bayside Refrigeration workers went on the school's rooftop at around noon, “and it looks like some of the air-conditioner chemicals went into the [school's drinking fountain] water supply from the roof" said a school spokesperson. Bayside Refrigeration could not be reached for comment.
Dr. Glenn Asaeda, an official at the Fire Department’s Office of Medical Affairs, says emergency workers and hospital personnel were working under the assumption that the elementary school children had ingested propylene glycol, a chemical commonly used as a coolant-toxic in large concentrations.
The 71 ill or vomiting children had told school teachers and medical personnel that they had drunk from water fountains at the entirelyschool. While the incident is being investigated, the school’s water has been turned off, and the school will provide bottled water to the children. Officials say that the incident is under investigation by the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Health, and the Department of Education.