PANIC stricken parents rushed to a girls' school on Tuesday after tens of pupils began falling ill with breathing difficulties.

Blackfen School for Girls dramatically transformed into a major incident site as ambulances and Bexleyheath Fire Stations Incident Truck went to the scene in Blackfen Road.

Pupils were quickly taken outside to lie on the school field, with the worst cases being treated in an oxygen tent, erected in the field.

Sam Wentworth, a resident in Sherwood Park Avenue, which backs onto the school, said: "I drove past and saw all of the girls outside. Quite a lot of them were lying on the field.

"There were ambulances everywhere. I asked a couple of girls outside what had happened and they said they thought it was a gas leak."

The actual cause of the mass illness remains unknown, but speculation is rife among pupils and parents.

Tracey Ashley has a daughter and two nieces at the school. She said: "One of my friends called me to say there were loads of ambulances outside the school. I tried calling the school office but it was constantly engaged.

"I just rushed down here. We haven’t been told anything. I had heard it is a gas leak, but other people have been told it’s pepper spray."

One of the girls at the school explained how she saw her friend become ill.

She said: "Her lips just started going blue and she felt faint. They rushed her to the oxygen tent. One of our teachers collapsed as well. They had to put some of the girls on a drip."

Despite the incident, the pupils have been told that school will be open as normal on Wednesday.