Hot Tar Fumes Sicken Dozens at Houston School

Dozens of student were sickened at Young Women's Preparatory Academy in southeastern Houston because of a noxious smell to Thursday morning that was later determined to be hot tar being used for construction.

The source was not a gas leak, as many had suspected and had been earlier reported.

The Houston Fire Department says 51 people complained of headaches and nausea -- and some students were taken to area hospitals as a precaution.

Ambulances and EMS personnel -- as well as the Houston Fire Department's bus-sized Mass Casualty Evacuation Ambulance -- were at the scene by lunchtime.

The school closed early for the day and students were picked up by parents.



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