Nine children sent to Wellington Hospital after head gasket blew on school bus

Nine Wainuiomata Primary School students were taken to hospital after smoke and fumes filled a bus on the way to a Kapa Haka event at Te Papa Museum on Wednesday.

Emergency services were called to Cable Street following reports of a bus fire at about 10am.

Fire and Emergency assistant district commander Matt Franklin said 44 people were on the bus headed for the city when the bus appeared to blow a head gasket on the Wellington motorway.

"There's been fumes inside the cabin of the bus. [The students] were transferred to another bus and some have presented with respiratory problems on arrival at Te Papa.

"Steam based, oil has been aspirated…respiratory and abdominal complaints," Franklin said.

Wainuiomata Primary School principal Allison Burdon was on her way to Wellington when she was contacted about the breakdown.

"There was fumes and smoke and they evacuated the bus. I arrived just as they arrived and I called 111 just as a precaution," Burdon said.

Emergency services sprang into action and four fire trucks, a Hazardous Materials unit as well as police and several ambulances rushed to the scene on the promenade outside Te Papa.

Health New Zealand said the nine children were receiving treatment and close monitoring following the incident.

Speaking from Wellington Hospital, Burdon said she hoped all would be discharged without having to spend the night.

She said some were still complaining of "sore tummies" and skin irritations where they had been splashed by what RNZ understood to be engine coolant.

But Burdon said, overall, the student's spirits were high.

"They're excited that they've made the news. They're all in a ward area of ED and they're talking to each other. They're bright as buttons."

Burdon said the remainder of the group would still take the stage at Wednesday's Kapa Haka event with their fellow students at the front of their minds.

"They're going to perform and do it for their mates that can't perform with them," she said.

Fire and Emergency crews left the scene at about 11.45am.