More than 50 schoolchildren were on Thursday evacuated to various hospitals suffering severe skin irritation, paramedics and health authorities said.
Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said evacuation of the children from Alipore Primary School in Durban’s Merebank suburb followed a similar incident on Wednesday when 36 children from the school were taken to Wentworth hospital.
It was initially believed the children has suffered the ”pimple-like rash” from an unknown chemical in the school field.
The school is situated next to a chemical factory that had been installing a drainage system to prevent any contamination.
An Ethekwini municipal health inspector, Raj Hooblal, who was at the school on Thursday said water samples taken from the ground water and tested had shown no ”conclusive link” to the chemicals from the factory.
The factory produces chemicals used in the tanning industry. He said that from 1929 to 1991 there had been an ”historic contamination” of the area with chromium six. However, in the recent years there had been a major clean-up undertaken by the current owners.
It was not immediately clear whether the 36 children taken to Wentworth hospital on Wednesday were also among those taken to hospital on Thursday.
It is not certain whether any of the children would be hospitalised overnight.
Meanwhile, there was no evidence to show the schoolchildren had been exposed to a toxic chemical, a chemical company said on Thursday.
Lanxess spokesperson Margarete Meyer said pupils had not been exposed to chromium.
”According to our information there is no evidence that any of the children were exposed to any levels of chromium,” she said.
Chromium is used in paint formulas and in protecting metal from corrosion.
‒ Sapa