By Richard Irwin
The Baltimore Sun
Copyright 2007 The Baltimore Sun Company
All Rights Reserved

BALTIMORE — At least 18 passengers became sickened on a charter bus that stopped near White Marsh Mall last night. They were treated at four area hospitals for symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokesman said.

About 9 p.m., three teenage passengers complained of nausea after getting off the bus when it stopped at an Exxon station on Honeygo Boulevard, said Lt. Pierre Thode, the department spokesman.

Within minutes, an additional 15 passengers began complaining of nausea, and someone called the Fire Department.

While firefighters investigated, 35 passengers who showed no symptoms were transferred to a Maryland Transit Administration bus to keep them out of rain, Thode said.

Emergency rooms at four hospitals - Franklin Square, Johns Hopkins Bayview, University of Maryland and Upper Chesapeake - were notified that patients were on the way. One ambulance took five patients, Thode said.

Franklin Square and Upper Chesapeake each reported receiving five patients, Bayview seven, and University one - with all being evaluated, including tests to determine the amount of gas in the blood, hospital spokespersons said.

The bus was carrying high school students to Laurel from Springfield, Mass., Thode said.