Fifty students at an elementary school in Osaka Prefecture were taken to hospital on Monday after they complained of feeling unwell due to a gas smell, local authorities said.
All are conscious and none are considered to be in a serious condition, according to police, who received a report from firefighters around 10:05 a.m. that a gas odor had been detected at Kamei Elementary School in the city of Yao.
Osaka Gas Co. investigated the incident at the school, but was unable to identify the cause of the smell.
"Everyone in the class was saying it smelled bad," a girl in the fourth grade said, calling the experience "scary."
Several ambulances and fire engines were seen on the school grounds, with residents in the area watching as firefighters scurried in and out of the school building.
"I came because I was worried," said a mother whose son is a sixth-grade student at the school, adding she wanted to "bring him home quickly."
A 67-year-old man, whose grandchild is in the third grade, said he rushed to the school after seeing the news on television.
"There has been no information from the school, and I don't know what has happened," he said.
Classes were resumed after the building was confirmed safe at around 10:45. The school told parents and guardians that it would provide counseling for students who are anxious or concerned.
