Two teachers, overcome by chemical fumes, had to be taken to hospital.
All the pupils on the campus were evacuated and were allowed to go home.
A teacher wanted to put away some chemical products, but tripped. The box containing, among other things, phosphorus, sodium and mercury fell out of her hands onto the ground.
A bottle of phosphorus broke and caught fire on contact with the air.
The teacher, together with a colleague, was able to bring the fire under control fairly quickly with a powder extinguisher. But in doing so they inhaled fumes from the burning phosphorus.
They were taken to the Algemeen Ziekenhuis Sint-Elisabeth in Zottegem. Their condition was not serious. In the afternoon it was already reported that they were recovering.
Dense smoke leads to evacuation
Dense smoke quickly spread through the corridors of the school. As a result, about fifteen pupils suffered from irritated eyes. They were treated on the spot by the emergency services who rushed to the scene in large numbers.
The medical disaster plan was declared. And all 1,382 pupils on the campus were evacuated.
"We consider ourselves fortunate that we regularly practise these kinds of disaster situations. Today the usefulness of this has been clearly proven," said Barbara Fernandez, principal of the KAZ.
"Extinguishing with powder was a very good reaction, because extinguishing phosphorus with water (the combination can, if inhaled, cause serious damage to the lungs and airways, ed.) is absolutely out of the question. Fortunately they knew that," says fire brigade major Peter De Vijlder, head of the Vlaamse Ardennen emergency zone.
The fire brigade removed all the products involved in special containers filled with sand.
Zottegem, 13/01/2017
Source: Het Laatste Nieuws