A plane returning to LAX dumped jet fuel on an elementary school below it

• Students and staff at an elementary school in Los Angeles County were hit by jet fuel dumped by a plane flying overhead.
• 17 children and nine adults were treated by paramedics, the Los Angeles County Fire Department told Business Insider.
• The fuel appeared to be dumped by a plane that was returning to Los Angeles Airport shortly after taking off.
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Los Angeles County firefighters and paramedics responded to an elementary school in Cudahy, California, after children came into contact with jet fuel dumped by a plane flying overhead.

Seventeen children and nine adults were hit by the fuel and complained of minor injuries, the LA County Fire Department told Business Insider. The department's Health Haz Mat units responded and confirmed that the substance was jet fuel.

ABC 7 Los Angeles reported that the victims were complaining of skin irritation.

Two classes were outside in the school's playground when the liquid "rained down" just before noon, the Los Angeles Times reported.

It was not immediately clear which flight dumped the fuel, nor the reason. Jettisoning fuel to reduce weight is a common practice when a jet is forced to return to the airport after take-off, often due to a technical issue.

Delta flight 89 from LAX to Shanghai, China, returned to the airport shortly after taking off at around the same time, according to data from FlightRadar24. The plane, a Boeing 777-200, passed 2,375 feet over the Cudahy area at 11:53 a.m.

Video posted to Twitter purported to show the plane dumping fuel on approach, but could not be independently verified by Business Insider.

Delta did not immediately return a request for comment.