40 school kids collapse due to mass hysteria – Ambulance crews have treated 40 pupils at a school in Yorkshire after several collapsed during an assembly, prompting what fire crews believe was a “ripple effect” of anxiety-based nausea and faintness.
Fire service specialists said they had found no hazardous substances at Outwood academy in Ripon, North Yorkshire, and the mystery mass illness could have been caused when four pupils fainted in an over-warm assembly hall during a Remembrance Day service.
Police said one student was taken to hospital by his parents, and another received treatment at a minor injuries unit.
The alarm was raised shortly before 12.30pm on Wednesday following reports that a large number of pupils were feeling unwell. Police were called to the school along with ambulance and fire crews, including specialist hazardous substance teams.
One pupil, 15-year-old Joshua Hall, said: “We were all in assembly for Remembrance Day and people were just passing out towards the end. It was pretty scary, it was talked about the whole day and it kept getting worse and worse.”
Another student, who asked not to be named, said several students collapsed in the school hall. She said: “When the first boy was sick, we thought it was a one-off but then there was a big slap on the floor and someone had fainted. After that it was a bit of a domino effect, another three or four collapsed and then people started leaving the hall to get fresh air. One of the boys who fell was a bit concussed and had a big lump on his head. After that they ushered us out quickly and a couple of girls had panic attacks.”
Rumours of a gas leak were posted on a Facebook forum for parents at the school, but Dave Winspear, from North Yorkshire fire service, said specialists detected no hazardous substances.
He said: “Children were feeling unwell, nauseous, dizzy. The ambulance service treated children for those symptoms. We worked through our protocol to see if there was anything untoward and assessed the school for any hazardous materials.”
While the cause remained unknown, Winspear said the assembly hall was warm at the time. He added: “We are of the view the children just fainted and there was a ripple effect throughout the school. More children felt anxiety and started to feel concerned and the thing has escalated.
“I would like to assure you, we have carried out a very thorough assessment and found no hazardous materials or anything untoward in the school environment.”
A spokeswoman for Outwood Grange academies trust, which runs the school, said four students fainted during assembly, one of whom bumped their head. “Following the assembly, a further 20 students presented themselves during the course of the morning complaining of feeling faint and dizzy. At this point the academy, again as a precaution, called an ambulance.”
In all, the trust said, 40 students were treated on site. All later rejoined lessons or went home as normal.
Yorkshire ambulance service said it received a call at about 11.30am reporting that a number of students had “fallen ill suddenly with nausea and feeling faint”.
It said: “We dispatched a number of resources to the scene including a doctor, three ambulance crews, two rapid response vehicles, a number of clinical supervisors and our hazardous area response team.”
Incidents of sudden mass illness and fainting are not unknown at schools or other big gatherings of young people. The most famous such event took place in 1980 when almost 300 children taking part in an outdoor brass band competition in Nottinghamshire suddenly suffered vomiting and other symptoms.
The cause was never pinpointed, with some officials suggesting at the time that it could have been mass hysteria. However, a later BBC investigation said a subsequently banned pesticide had been sprayed in nearby fields and could have caused the illness.
• A news alert sent for this story stated that 27 students had been taken to hospital. Later information from police clarified that two were taken to hospital and others treated at the scene.