The parents of the 13 pupils however asked the state government to conduct a thorough investigation to detect the source of the emission and to forestall future discharge of the poisonous fumes.
This came barely 24 hours after the anxiety among the parents and guardians of the 13 students of the school, who collapsed after inhaling an unidentified poisonous fumes discharged from one of the cottage factories in Ogba Shopping Arcade. Speaking to Saturday Vanguard, Ogungbamigbe, a JSS 2 student said the emission was discharged 30 minutes after their lunch break.
Explaining how her friends cheated death, Omolade said: “It was one of the students in JSS 2 who first inhaled the poisonous fume. Few minutes after he complained about the fume, it had enveloped the classroom block. First, we all thought the fume was from a canister because the Area G police command was few meters away from our school.
“While we all gathered at the ground floor of the building waiting for the fume to subside, one of the students in JSS 2A, identified as Lateefat collapsed. Few seconds later, other students began to follow suit; that was when we all raised the alarm.
“While others slumped, I didn’t but I had breathing difficulty and began to experience stomach ache,” she added. Omolade said that she woke up to find herself being fanned by some people before she was rushed to the hospital for medical attention.
According to her, “I didn’t know when I slumped. But the last thing I remembered was the few minutes I spent at the Caterpillar Bus Stop, Ogba, while waiting for bus.” She added, “My friend told me that I fainted at the Bus Stop. It was my friends who hired a taxi that took me to the hospital.”
Another victim who simply identified herself as Adefisayo , said, “I was playing during the break. I perceived some odour I could not comprehend. I developed stomach ache and I suddenly fell and I woke up to find myself in the hospital.”
Aside Omolade who was discharged at the early hours of yesterday, others were still hospitalized. Some of the students still hospitalized were: Tijani Mariam, Subaidat Oladokun, Adebiyi Taiwo, Muiz Rodiat, Onaigbe Blessing, Karimat Akiode, Rasak Gbolahan, Modupe Idowu, Titilope Idimu, Alhassan Salamot and Yusuf Salamot. When Saturday Vanguard visited the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, sources said that doctors were still conducting series of tests on the students to determine their health status. They added that the students maybe released on Monday.
But that would be determined by how they responded to treatment. Speaking to Saturday Vanguard, Mr. Oladokun, father of Zubaidat Oladokun, said, “What the officials told me was that they cannot discharge the students now until Monday after they would have completed the necessary medical tests on the patients.”
He lamented that the result of the last emission which affected 25 students of the school was yet to be released by the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, LASEPA, in the incident that nearly claimed the lives of the pupils.
Oladokun said, “some of the pupils who were affected by the chemical emission last year were also affected and are in still in critical condition following another emission from the same complex located beside the school premises. Mrs. Folashade Alhassan lamented, “The recurrent incident is becoming worrisome.
The incident happened almost the same time last year. The chemical reacts easily on our children. If this continues, it may damage something in their body. Governor Fashola must come to our aid. Why would the school expose our children to dangerous chemicals almost every time?”
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