Students Fall Sick After Plane Drops Rotten Egg-Smelling ‘Stuff’ On School

Update: 1:25 a.m. EDT — Eight of the 30 students who fell sick, following an incident involving a plane “accidentally” spraying Carterton's South End and Montessori schools in New Zealand with a foul-smelling substance Friday, needed to be hospitalized.

A hazmat decontamination unit was on its way from Palmerston North to help get the children through the decontamination process quicker. As part of the process, the children were asked to leave their belongings like bags, bikes and scooters at the school.

Former Mayor of Carterton Ron Mark was present at the scene, and said it appeared a plane had "accidentally sprayed the school with pesticide." However, Wairarapa Police senior sergeant Mike Sutton said investigators were unable to confirm whether there was a link between the children getting sick and the mystery substance dropped from the plane.

Kylie Parry, the mother of 12-year-old Mindy who is a student at the school, praised the authorities for handling the situation as they did, as she waited outside the premises for her daughter.

"They've all been very professional and the principal has kept everyone really informed,” she told Stuff, adding that she arrived at the school after receiving a call from South End School principal Clare Crawford. "Everybody is being really careful and really cautious.”

Original story:

Multiple children at South End School in Carterton, Wairarapa, New Zealand, fell sick after a low-flying aircraft released an unknown substance over the educational facility Friday.

“Warning - at approx 1 p.m. today [9 p.m. EDT Thursday] there was a very strong smell [strong ammonia rotten eggs] in our school playground - a plane flew in a southward direction and one student had seen 'stuff' coming out of the plane – so we assume it was a fertilizer of some sort - several student have experienced feeling quezzy [Sic] and ucky [Sic],” a post on the school’s Facebook page said.

“I have made them wash their face and drink plenty of water. In the meantime I have run the Carterton Police to see if we can find out what in fact it was - I will let you know when we find out and in the meantime we are watching the students closely,” the post added.

Emergency crews were called to the scene and the police placed the school on lockdown. Around 30 students out of the 155 enrolled in the school showed signs of sickness, including vomiting. They were placed in quarantine.

"Around about 28 to 30 children have been affected by something that’s come out of an aircraft,” Carterton Mayor John Booth told Newshub, adding the type of aircraft involved in the incident had not been determined yet.

“NO students are allowed out of the school grounds and no one is allowed into the grounds until we can find out what the substance we smelt was. ALL students are fine and being looked after - please respect the police and services by not trying to get in the school grounds,” said a separate post on the school’s Facebook page.

According to Stuff, all the children were being kept in the school grounds and around 60 parents waited outside the premises to take them home.

The school authorities informed the parents the school bus services had been suspended and hence, the respective guardians needed to pick up the students from the school. The parents were also told to get fresh clothes for their children as they would need to go through a decontamination process.

While four ambulances were on the scene, attending to the sick kids, the Life Flight Rescue Helicopter, with three paramedics on board, was sent from Wellington to assist at the school.

Additionally, Fire Emergency New Zealand spokesman Nick Venter said there were four fire crews from Wairarapa while extra support vehicles were being sent over from Wellington.

"We're still assessing what we're dealing with,” Venter said, confirming the substance that was dropped on the school grounds had not been identified.