Eleven children on a camp field trip got sick while riding the subway, and were overcome with nausea as they got off the Fordham Road subway stop in the Bronx, officials say.
The FDNY said EMS treated it as a haz-mat situation as they responded to the station just after 4:30 p.m. They were initially called to the scene for a report of vomiting children, though it's not clear if the kids were actually throwing up.
Camper Jaiden Morales recounted feeling dizzy and having a headache. Erika Solis added, "I started feeling really, really dizzy, and thought I was going to throw up."
Parent Emilia Alvarez said she immediately worried and "didn't know what to think" when she got a phone call from her son.
"He actually called me and said, 'Mommy, I'm going to the hospital,'" she said. "I was like, what?"
Melanie Morales wondered as she rushed to the hospital, "What is going on? How is it that 11 or 12 kids immediately came down with the same symptoms at the exact same time?"
Eight children were taken to Saint Barnabas Medical Center; the MTA said train service wasn't affected as first responders transported the children from the subway stop.
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The children were discharged from the hospital later in the evening. The campers had been swimming in a Central Park pool before they fell ill, but doctors still don't know for sure what caused the symptoms, according to parents.
"They're sending them home, keeping an eye on them to see what happens," said parent Stephanie Fornasari.
Heat exhaustion is a possibility, parents agreed, and most of the children said they felt better as they left the hospital. They plan to return to camp Friday.
