Carbon Monoxide Leak Sickens Conn. School Children

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) -- Twenty grade-school children have been hospitalized in Waterbury after falling ill to a carbon monoxide leak.

Rick Hart, deputy chief of the Waterbury Fire Department, says an access door to a water heater at the Barnard Elementary School was broken, venting carbon monoxide onto the second floor Tuesday morning.

St. Mary's Hospital spokesman Joe Connolly says the students are in stable condition and have an excellent prognosis. The students, who are between the ages of 8 and 11, were to be released Tuesday.

Hart says one child passed out and another youngster complained of dizziness and nausea.

He says carbon monoxide is particularly dangerous because it is has no color, taste or odor and symptoms of poisoning can be confused with those of a flu.

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