Dozens of Children at NJ Day Care Center Drink Bleach

Twenty-eight children and two adults apparently drank bleach by mistake at a New Jersey day care center on Thursday and were taken to a hospital after some complained their stomachs were burning, a medical center spokesman said.

The children, aged 3 and 4, and adult staff members of the Growing Tree Learning Center in downtown Jersey City were transported in five ambulances to the Jersey City Medical Center after a late-morning call to 911, according to Mark Rabson, a hospital spokesman.

By mid-afternoon, all 30 were in stable condition and were being discharged, Rabson said.

"There was a poisoning and many children were injured," he said, adding that the children were walking on their own or were being carried out by their parents and "have smiles on their faces."

Details on how the bleach was ingested were not available. A call to the day care center for comment was not immediately returned.

The 911 call kicked off a mass casualty emergency response by the hospital, which called in extra doctors and nurses and worked closely with paramedics, police and fire units.

They gave the victims liquids like water and milk to dilute the poison rather than inducing vomiting "because it would burn on the way back up again," Rabson said.