Several hospitalized after suspected carbon monoxide leak at Quebec high school

LAVAL, Que. — A high school north of Montreal was evacuated and at least a dozen people have been taken to hospital after a suspected carbon monoxide leak.

A spokesman for ambulance service Urgences-Sante said that as of 11:30 a.m., three adults and nine children had been taken to hospital with symptoms such as headaches and nausea, but none were believed to be seriously ill. He said that number could still rise as more people are evaluated.

Patick Ferland of the Laval fire department says someone from the l’Odyssee-des-Jeunes school called at about 8:30 a.m.

He said fire officials arrived on the scene and decided to evacuate the 900 people in the building after a carbon monoxide test.

Ferland says the source of the leak was the building’s natural gas heating system.

Levels in the school were at 30 parts per million, which he characterized as “not alarming.”

“It’s not alarming as a concentration, but we still have to take actions so it stops rising and the occupants aren’t exposed to more levels,” he said.

Ferland was unable to say when the school would reopen.

The Canadian Press