Students fall ill from
odor in stuck drain

At least 20 children at Holy Trinity School
in Niu Valley had symptoms of illness

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By Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.com

Honolulu fire officials believe gas from a backed-up toilet drain at a home next to Holy Trinity School in Niu Valley was responsible for causing at least 20 students to experience headaches, nausea and vomiting yesterday.

School officials called the Fire Department at 10:30 a.m. yesterday after several students reported feeling ill from the gas odor.

One teacher said she noticed a sulfur smell during morning recess an hour before.

The school's 150 students were evacuated to the school gymnasium adjacent to their classrooms as fire officials investigated the odor. But by the time firefighters arrived, the odor had dissipated.

"During the time that we were here, we really didn't smell the odor," said Capt. Gerald Kimono, acting battalion chief.

Kimono said monitoring devices from the hazardous-materials team also did not detect any chemicals in the classrooms.

But the odor was still apparent in the gymnasium, so school officials evacuated the students to the church.

"We had around 12 students who really weren't feeling well. Six of them had some real symptoms, and we needed to call the ambulance," said Monica DesJarlais, school principal.

Symptoms included headaches, nausea and vomiting.

"But not everyone was feeling that way. The rest were having just mild symptoms," said Les Kurano, Emergency Medical Services district chief.

All of the students who reported feeling ill were treated at the school.

School officials called the parents of the six to pick their kids up. By 12:30 p.m. parents had picked up all of the kids.

Fire officials discovered that a home upwind of the school had a plumber try to clear out a clogged toilet drain that morning.

"He threw some chemicals down to try and flush it out. So that could've been the cause of the odor," Komine said.