High school students in Merida are poisoned with ammonia

  A large mobilization of emergency services was deployed to the south of the city of Mérida, due to a report of a strong smell of ammonia in the El Roble Agrícola neighborhood.

Police and paramedics from the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP) and paramedics from the Cruz Roja Mexicana (Mexican Red Cross) arrived at the scene, as there is a high school nearby where dozens of students were having difficulties.

It is known that more than 50 students from Escuela Secundaria Técnica 57 and several parents were intoxicated by an ammonia leak, which occurred in the Roble neighborhood, in the south of Merida.

It was early in the morning when the 911 line received the report that parents and students were vomiting, showing dizziness, and some of them even fainting, due to having breathed ammonia coming from a company near the area.

The smell was so strong that it managed to intoxicate children and neighbors of other nearby schools, for which reason operations have already been deployed to return children to their homes and to ask neighbors to keep doors and windows closed.

Authorities have urged people living in the surroundings of the site to wear mouth covers, and for now not go out to the street, and try not to touch eyes and faces.

It is believed that it is due to an ammonia spill in a factory in the area or from a transport truck, but this has not yet been confirmed by the authorities.

TYT Newsroom