#Toxic gas cloud at NJ pool sickens 27 people — mostly kids

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The Glacier Hills Association Pool in Parsippany New Jersey
Glacier Hills Association

More than two dozen people – most of them children taking swimming lessons – were sickened at a New Jersey pool Friday morning by a toxic concoction of chlorine gas and hydrochloric acid.

Five of the victims were taken to a hospital after the 9:20 a.m. incident at the Glacier Hills Association Pool on Forum Court in Morris County.

Responding Parsippany-Troy Hills cops found 27 people who had been exposed to the noxious cloud formed by the combination of chlorine and muriatic acid, also known as hydrochloric acid, according to the outlet.

Of the five people taken to the Morristown Medical Center suffering from respiratory distress, four were children and one was an adult, police spokesman Remo D’Alessandro said in a statement.

Their conditions were not immediately available.

The rest of those exposed to the fumes were treated at the scene.

The “surrounding community is not in danger or at risk of exposure,” police added.

Both chemicals, when in gas form, can cause acute respiratory distress and sickness when inhaled.

During World War I, chlorine gas was used in chemical warfare, killing troops by asphyxiation in high enough doses.

Hydrochloric acid and chlorine are commonly used to treat swimming pools.