Toddlers taking part in an Aquatots class were evacuated from a swimming pool due to contamination from air bubbles “containing high levels of chlorine”.
The swimmers in the class for two and three-year-old children, held on Saturday morning, were all rushed from the Philip Southcote School site in Addlestone, Surrey, to hospital as a precaution.
There were worries of the children suffering “irritation to the lungs, drowsiness and vomiting”.
In an email, Aquatots told parents it believed droplets of chlorine in pipework from the pool dosing system had escaped into the pool, Surrey Live reported.
Aquatots wrote: “The air bubbles, once in the pool water, rose to the top of the pool water surface and into the air space in the pool room building, effectively creating a level of strong-smelling chlorine gas.
“The swimmers in the pool suffered irritation to the lungs, drowsiness and vomiting, due to inhaling the chlorine-concentrated air that became present in the pool building.”
The email explained that a full investigation was yet to take place which would find exactly what happened.
Emergency services were also called when the hospital reported that it could have been down to a possible gas leak, according to Aquatots, but the teams closed the incident after carrying out tests to the pool building and the water.
By 1pm all swimmers were discharged from hospital and allowed to go back home, Aquatots reported.
The swim class provider added: “We are extremely sorry for the anxiety, trauma, upset, and suffering that the incident may have caused to our young swimmers and families.
“We have maintained contact with the swimmers since the incident to ensure they are all OK.
“Thankfully, the hospital has said, they expect there to be no long-lasting effects and that the incident, although traumatic for the young swimmers, was a mild respiratory irritation that had affected everyone in the pool building.
- Original Article: Mirror
- Date: October 2021