Landfill leak sickens children outside Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) - The governor of the Moscow region says he's working to evacuate children from a town where dozens have been hospitalized because of gas poisoning linked to a toxic landfill.

Health officials in the town of Volokolamsk, 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Moscow, said Wednesday that 57 children have been hospitalized with symptoms of gas poisoning, including nausea and fainting.  Russian news agencies on Wednesday quoted governor Andrei Vorobyev as saying that he will draw up plans to evacuate children from the town.

Local residents held a protest rally earlier this month, demanding that authorities close down a local landfill as a health hazard. Authorities in Volokolamsk in early March called a temporary state of emergency after high levels of hydrogen sulfide were recorded around the landfill.