FOURTEEN children were taken ill at a Dorset holiday park after breathing in chlorine vapour.

The emergency services were called to the Sandford Holiday Park at Holton Heath near Poole, on Saturday at around 3.40pm after children started falling ill in the centre's indoor swimming pool.

Four children were treated at the scene by paramedics and ten were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.

The pool was closed but but re-opened yesterday morning.

All the children have been released from hospital.

The incident has been referred to the Environmental Health department of Purbeck District Council which is investigating.

Couple Roz Heath and her motor home technician husband, Gary on holiday from Bursledon, Southampton, said their three children Zoe, four, Charlotte, nine, and Glenn, 14, had used the pool a few hours before the drama.

Shortly after getting out Charlotte complained of symptoms but none of the other children were affected, they said.

ä From page 1 Roz said: "Our kids were in there in the morning and my daughter complained that the chlorine was strong and her eyes were hurting.

"Glenn wasn't in there very long."

Later on they saw children sitting on a bench "coughing and crying" and a man being given oxygen by paramedics.

She added: "They were given milk to drink and one of the adults was given air. We were a bit concerned because our children had been in there a couple of hours beforehand and we didn't know what was wrong with them."

Rachael Taaffe, chief executive of Weststar Holidays which owns the Park, said that the emergency services were called as "a precaution" and put the incident down to "human error".

She said: "Everything is back to normal today. It was a minor incident. We took precautionary measures because we always put the health and safety of our guests first.

"The indoor swimming pool was closed for the afternoon.

"The swimming pool was re-opened this morning and everyone is having a super time. Everyone is well."