At the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule community school in Blieskastel, the fire brigade, emergency services and police were deployed on a large scale at midday today. In all probability, irritant gas or pepper spray had been released in the school. District fire chief Steffen Rastetter coordinated the fire brigade operation on site together with the fire chief of the town of Blieskastel, Marco Nehlig. There were 294 pupils in the school at the time of the incident. All of them and the teachers were evacuated. 65 pupils had to be taken into medical care. School lessons were cancelled and the pupils were dismissed. District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo was also on site. "The police are currently investigating and the incident must of course be cleared up. The main concern now is the state of health of the pupils. Let's hope that they all recover quickly. I would like to thank all the emergency services who were on the scene very quickly to help, which I am convinced was done very professionally and prudently. In the aftermath, it is now important to clarify the situation, but also to learn lessons from the whole thing," said the district administrator.
