OTTAWA — A loud boom rattled classroom desks as an explosion in a suburban high school sent several students to hospital including an 18-year-old who was seriously injured.
Hundreds of students and staff streamed into the street at Mother Teresa Catholic High School after the blast in the school’s auto shop at about 10:40 a.m.
The Grade 12 student who was gravely hurt had no vital signs when emergency workers arrived, but paramedics were able to resuscitate him and restart his pulse by the time he reached hospital.
A 17-year-old student was also taken to hospital and several other people were treated for minor injuries and released from hospital.
Authorities say a drum of peppermint oil exploded in the auto shop. It wasn’t immediately known what the oil was being used for.
The school is located in the suburb of Barrhaven in the city’s south-west end.
Chris Ventura, 14, said an explosion reverberated through his class located in another section of the school. He said students were rushed outside and sent down the street to another high school nearby.
He said students were in shock. Parents quickly started arriving at the school to check on their children.
The high school is in a quiet residential neighbourhood, across the street from a park with a children’s play structure and swings.
The school was cordoned off with yellow police tape as paramedics, police and firefighters investigated.
Ottawa Fire Services spokesman Marc Messier tweeted that there was no fire and no obvious structural damage to the school.
The high school has 1,480 students and 130 staff.