14 Romanian students hospitalized

14 Romanian students hospitalized

Fourteen high school students were hospitalized in northwestern Romania after inhaling hydrochloric acid fumes during a chemistry class, health authorities said Friday.

One of the pupils accidentally broke a test tube containing hydrochloric acid on Thursday and students inhaled toxic fumes, said Florin Bodoc, spokesman at the county hospital in the northwestern city of Oradea.

He said the students, all of them 17-year-olds from the Mihai Viteazul high school, suffered respiratory problems and headaches and were kept hospitalized overnight.

Some of the pupils were given special medication to counter the effects of the acid, Bodoc said by telephone, reports the AP.