73 Vietnam Students, Teacher Suffer Gas Choking in Haiphong

Seventy two students and a teacher of a secondary school in Vietnam’s northern port city of Haiphong were hospitalized between Oct 27-28 because of gas choking. The city health authorities confirmed that the students fainted en mass at classes in Quan Toan Secondary School on Oct. 27, causing panic throughout the school with nearly 600 students which closed for two days, the Vietnam News Agency said Friday.
Witnesses blamed the gas poisoning on Vietnam-Japan Steel Company, 200 meters behind the school, the agency added. Nguyen Van Phi director of the company said at a meeting with the municipal Department of Education and Training on Oct. 28 that his company had just invested $1 million into dust filter equipment.