CENRO yet to determine source of foul odor that downed students
The City Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) has yet to determine the source of the chemical odor that downed 13 students and a teacher of Colegio de San Jose in Jaro district Monday afternoon.
CENRO chief Noel Hechanova said they could not rule for now if the odor emanated from the waste water treatment plant of Makro warehouse, which already closed shop and is now under renovation for its conversion to an SM Hypermart store.
The school administration had already complained against the then Makro management after its water treatment plant, which uses microorganisms that eat wastes, emitted foul odor some three years back.
Hechanova said that when they checked the water treatment plant facility, it was filled with water.
But Monday’s case was different. “The smell is not similar to that of a rotten egg, which the students and teachers smelled years before,” he said.
Meanwhile, Engr. Jose Papa of the City Disaster and Crisis Management Office said the teachers and students said the smell of burned plastic or pesticide enveloped their classroom.
Investigators are also looking into the possibility that the foul smell came from a science class experiment of the students.
As this developed, officials of the SM Hypermarket denied that the odor came from their facility.
Fourteen persons were rushed to two hospitals when they got ill after inhaling the foul odor.
Nine students and a teacher were brought to Iloilo Mission Hospital while four others were treated at Iloilo St. Paul’s Hospital.
Some of them fainted.
Those who smelled the foul odor were students in Grade 7, first year, and Special Science classes.*
