Health officials said multiple children and adults were taken to hospital after an air conditioning leak at Victor Mager School Friday.
Members of the hazmat team were on scene.
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said 17 children and five adults were taken to the emergency department at Health Sciences Centre Children’s Hospital. The WRHA said the children and adults were taken to hospital following exposure to "combustion of an air conditioning gas."
All people were reported to have been transported in stable condition.
The children range in age from 10 to 12 years old and were transported on specialized buses modified for use by emergency services, with a pediatric emergency doctor, respiratory therapist and nurse on each bus.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, the WRHA said an additional 17 kids were assessed and treated by paramedics and were released in good condition from the school.
The WRHA said children who were cleared by the health-care team were being discharged from the bus to their parents, with help from school staff.
Children needing further care will be treated in the emergency department.
The WRHA said as parents arrive, Health Sciences Centre staff will direct them to staging areas, where hospital staff and school staff will reunite them with their kids.
Some of the students are reported to have started feeling sick earlier in the day, with coughs, sore throats and cramping.
The WRHA said, "Inhaling products of combustion can cause signs and symptoms such as increased
respiratory rate, coughing and possibly chest pain."
Late Friday afternoon, the WRHA said six children had been admitted to HSC for observation.
Trevor Rushak’s son is a student at the school, and his mother also works there. He watched as she was taken away in an ambulance.
"I know the lights weren't on the ambulance, so I am assuming it's more of a precautionary thing. She might have inhaled something. I don't know. She's seventy. She's got really bad lungs," he said.
