DATE: Friday, November 28, 1997             TAG: 9711280063

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   68 lines

VIRGINIA

Students sent home after high school's

lab fills with vapors

DALE CITY - A Prince William County high school was evacuated and all 2,600 students were sent home after an unmonitored teacher's project filled a chemistry laboratory with white acidic vapors, fire officials said. No injuries were reported.

A chemistry teacher at Hylton High School was preparing a mixture of toxic sulfuric acid and water for a laboratory class and apparently left a hot plate turned on under a beaker when he went home Tuesday afternoon, fire officials said.

Wednesday morning, before classes began, school staff members spotted a white mist in the chemistry lab. About 150 people were removed from the building just before 7 a.m.

As students arrived for the final day of class before Thanksgiving vacation, they were ushered to the football field while a hazardous-material crew clad in protective suits checked the lab.

By 9 a.m., the principal announced that classes would be canceled to allow the cleanup crew time to scour the lab and remove remaining traces of the sulfuric acid and smoke. The announcement was greeted with a roaring ovation from students.

Sulfuric acid vapor can cause respiratory irritation and can be harmful in high doses, fire officials said. The material was not believed to have escaped from the immediate area of the lab.

Officials said the school would open on schedule Monday.

Funeral home identifies teen killed in car crash

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A teen-ager who died when he crashed into an oncoming truck during a police pursuit this week has been identified as a Winchester, Va., boy.

Darnell Jerome Hayes died early Tuesday in the crash of a car stolen Nov. 12 in his hometown. His age was not immediately available.

State police would not confirm his identity, saying he was a juvenile involved in the commission of a felony. But a funeral home in Virginia confirmed that Hayes died in the Martinsburg crash.

The chase began after two cars ran a red light. One vehicle pulled into a gas station.

Hayes took off in the other direction at a high rate of speed, police said.

A trooper chased the car for more than a mile, watching as Hayes passed and narrowly missed two vehicles, then slammed into an oncoming tow truck.

Hayes was ejected from the car and killed. The people in the truck were treated for minor injuries.

Missing couple found dead near Shenandoah

STAUNTON - The bodies of an elderly man and woman missing since last weekend were found Wednesday near a remote campground in Augusta County.

The bodies were discovered about 9:30 a.m. by a park ranger near the Shenandoah Campground, said Sgt. K.W. Reed of the Augusta County Sheriff's office.

There were no signs of trauma to the bodies, Reed said, and authorities believed the deaths were accidental.

Quenton and Ethel May of Broadway had been missing since leaving their daughter's home near Harrisonburg last weekend. The Mays, both 76, had health problems, officials said.

The Mays were found outside their car, which had become stuck in mud. The vehicle's battery was dead and it was out of gas, Reed said.

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