Lockport Central students injured after suspicious item found

LOCKPORT -- Students at a suburban Chicago high school say they huddled behind locked classroom doors for more than 2 hours after a plastic bottle that may have contained a toxic substance apparently exploded in a hallway.

A freshman at Lockport Township High School's Central Campus, Chloe Varsek, says she heard a pop as loud as a gun as she sat in class Monday morning. She then began to smell a pungent odor like rotten eggs.

The school sent students home before noon while police continued to investigate, including searching the building with dogs.

A spokeswoman for nearby Joliet's Silver Cross Hospital says 10 students were brought in, treated and released. Three others are in good condition and could be released soon.