West Virginia band students hospitalized with illness from outdoor practice

Dozens of Marshall County, West Virginia marching band students were hospitalized with a heat-related illness Thursday, after they became sick while practicing outside.

Marshall County Schools says around 35 students were taken to three hospitals Thursday, after they became sick from a heat-related illness.

More than 100 middle and high school students were practicing at an outdoor football stadium for the Middle School Night performance that was scheduled for halftime at a football game.

This was the first year students practiced on the new artificial turf field.

Officials say the surface of turf fields gets about 20 degrees hotter than the air temperature, which was in the 80s at the time of the incident.

School officials say they also had a limited amount of water available for the children at the band practice.