Galeras, Columbia: 28 students were taken to the hospital on Wednesday, March 8 following the use of a Ouija board at school.
"There were 28 possible cases of anxiety in school students," Hugo Torres, head of the Galeras Educational Institution stated.
Some of the girls were reportedly suffering from fainting, anxiety and other, unnamed symptoms while at school. They were taken to the local municipal hospital by parents and school faculty.
No further information has been released concerning the students' conditions, but Torres expressed a strong opinion about community commentary on the matter.
"Given the reported cases, a series of comments were unleashed on the community that, rather than helping to resolve the situation, led to confusion and an adverse environment for our work," Torres was quoted as saying.
One of those comments may have come from a mother who also works at the hospital who said, "I work here in a hospital kiosk and every day I see three or four children arrive after fainting. Parents, you have to move, investigate what's happening at school, because our children cannot continue in this situation."
In addressing the possibility that the children were fainting simply due to a lack of nutrition she said, "Our children always have a good breakfast and it cannot be said that what's happening is due to lack of food."
Torres stated "The school is waiting for the medical diagnosis to provide further reliable information," while asking that the community refrain from making "early judgements and diagnoses of their own" in the mean time.