WAIPAHU, Hawaii -- Authorities returned students and faculty to classrooms at Waipahu Intermediate School on Thursday after a gas odor prompted evacuations.

It first started at about 11:25 a.m.

Some people reported feeling ill from the propane smell, officials said.

Officials moved students from classroom areas to the cafeteria and outside the cafeteria.

At least four ambulances and multiple fire units, including the hazardous materials unit, were dispatched to the scene.

Paramedics treated a number of people at the school. They took seven people to hospitals, five were adults.

The Gas Co. crew found a leak from a propane tank near a locker room. However, the school vice principal said he doubts that was serious enough to cause the inconvenience.

The smell wafted across Waipahu.

It also affected students at Honowai Elementary School, which is at least a mile from the intermediate school. At Honowai, students were kept in their classrooms until the odor past. That delayed lunch.