A foul odor reported yesterday over Staten Island, particularly at Curtis High School and in New Brighton, was identified by fire officials and the Department of Environmental Protection as gas fumes.

No injuries were reported, but students could be seen covering their noses and mouths. Unlike the odors over Manhattan and New Jersey on Monday, believed to be mercaptan, a chemical added to natural gas that smells like rotten eggs, the Staten Island smell is believed to be petroleum-based, said Charles Sturcken, spokesman for the environmental department. โ€œThe preliminary results in the field are that there is nothing hazardous in the air,โ€ he said. After the first reports of the odor about 2 p.m., officials sampled the air along the waterfront across from an industrial area of Bayonne, N.J. The source of the odor was not determined.