OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Chaos reigned at Ocho Rios High School in St Ann yesterday as students and teachers experienced fainting spells blamed on an early morning fogging, authorised by the Ministry of Health, to rid the premises of mosquitoes.

Just why the fogging was carried out on the property mere minutes before classes for the first shift were scheduled to start was the question asked repeatedly by people in the resort town as news of the incident spread.

Yesterday, the Jamaica Observer was told that more than 50 students were rushed to St Ann’s Bay Hospital for treatment.

“We picked up 11 students in the Coaster ambulance, five in the Hiace ambulance,” said Professor Roosevelt Crooks, who was one of the first persons to respond to the emergency.

“I don’t think that it is students in mass hysteria; teachers were also affected. I took down two teachers who were affected,” Prof Crooks said, noting that several taxi operators also volunteered to help.

“The taxi men have been very responsive, the teachers have been responsive, but I laud the taxi men who have been picking them up at varying points in Ocho Rios. We have good citizens and we need to thank them,” he added. He, however, expressed concern about the general response of Jamaicans to emergencies.

“Some of the traffic people need to yield a little more when they hear sirens coming, because I had to stop in the middle of the street to take up the first set because they weren’t moving out of the streets, while people were running with students in their arms trying to get to the unit,” he explained.

Patricia Hamilton, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association representative at the school, was among the members of staff who accompanied the students to hospital.

“The support was immense. The situation has now been brought under control,” she told the Observer yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Acting Vice-Principal Christine Wellington made it clear that the school was not responsible for the fogging.

“I got to school about quarter past six; when I got there I noticed that the place was fogged. We went onto the compound, but it was affecting us, so we went to the main gate and we stood there,” she explained.

She said students were instructed not to go on the compound. However, the number of students at the gate began to grow.

“More students kept coming and they were curious. The scent was really bad and so we instructed them not to go in,” Wellington explained.

She said when the crowd of students got even bigger and began spilling onto the street, students were directed to the car park. However, students in the car park began complaining of respiratory problems and some began fainting and were rushed to hospital.

“What I have been told by the doctors is that most of them, it’s mostly panic attack; a few really [had] asthma [attacks],” she explained.

Yesterday, Dr Kevin Harvey of the Ministry of Health explained that the fogging was part of a comprehensive mosquito control programme in the parish to prevent the spread of dengue.

“We were carrying out an activity in this area at about five, six o’clock this morning (on Tuesday). Some fogging took place in the Ocho Rios community which included this school. Because of the temperature and wind conditions there was some settling of the compound used, and hence the smell of this compound in the classrooms,” he explained.

Dr Harvey said some students panicked because of the unusual smell.

“We had about 54 students who were taken to our health facilities; they were all reviewed with very mild respiratory symptoms; about four of the students had more moderate symptoms because they were known to be asthmatic and hence had a more severe reaction,” he added.

He said those students were nebulised and all discharged from hospital.

Classes are expected to resume today with the afternoon shift. A team from the health ministry is also scheduled to visit the school.