SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) -- An apartment building was evacuated Tuesday and 10 residents hospitalized after natural gas fumes apparently leaked from a stove, authorities said.
Some 35 residents from 12 apartments at the Woodland Manor Apartment Complex were evacuated shortly after 6 a.m.
Three of the people showed signs of exposure to natural gas and were taken by helicopter to hospitals in New York and Pennsylvania, police said. A mother and her 8-year-old child were taken to Westchester, N.Y., but authorities did not immediately release the name of the hospital.
A woman was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
The other seven people were taken to area hospitals ``strictly as a precautionary measure,'' according to a statement released by South Plainfield Police.
Police did not immediately make available the names of those taken to hospitals.
The cause of the leak was under investigation, but authorities said gas may have leaked into an apartment from a stove pilot light switch. Batteries had been removed from a carbon monoxide detector in the apartment, police said.
Residents were allowed back in their apartments at 8:35 a.m.
