By Safia Malhotra
The Lima News
MINSTER, Ohio — Fourteen members of a Minster swim team were taken from the Minster swimming pool to local hospitals Tuesday morning following a report that swimmers ingested chemicals, according to a press release from the Auglaize County village.
They allegedly showed signs of chlorine exposure, including coughing and difficulty breathing. No additional information regarding the athletes’ health has been released.
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A press release from the Minster Village Administrator Don Harrod attributed the exposure to a mechanical malfunction in one of the facility’s chlorine pumps.
“We had a pump fail; our recirculation pump failed, but the chlorine pump did not fail, so there was still chlorine pumping out into a pipe,” Harrod told the Sidney Daily News.
The Minster Police Department and Minster Area Life Squad EMS were dispatched to the pool at 8:18 a.m., where athletes were coughing and struggling to breathe. EMS crews were overwhelmed by the number of affected individuals and requested help from other agencies and fire departments.
Two New Bremen EMS units and a New Knoxville EMS unit responded, as well as the Minster - Jackson Township and St. Mary’s fire departments, Fort Laramie Rescue Squad and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.
Maintenance personnel were working to diagnose the issue Tuesday, but the Minster pool did not reopen. The administration announced it would actively cooperate with the appropriate government agencies as the incident remained under investigation.
The Minster swimming pool already cancelled Wednesday’s swim team and swim lessons, though their Kinderkamp youth program remained on schedule for Wednesday. The pool will announce on its Facebook page when it planned to reopen.
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