The flight attendants aboard a B767-300 initiated an evacuation at the gate when the underground fueling receptacle at the gate hemorrhaged. An alert fueler raced to the cabin to alert those aboard.

Narrative

There was an intense fuel smell in the cabin. After a few minutes the fueler; smelling of fuel; entered the plane and told the purser to tell everybody to get out of the plane. The purser initiated an evacuation and I repeated the announcement in Spanish: 'everybody leave the plane immediately.' The evacuation took about ten minutes. I helped to evacuate the last passenger who was in a wheelchair. The passengers and flight attendants stayed in the gate area but the smell of fuel was still intense. We all could clearly see the fuel gushing out from the fueling underground tank. Paramedics were called. They advised us to seek fresh air. A company supervisor led us to the in flight office. Later we returned to pick up our bags. At that time we stayed on board for about 30 minutes as passengers came to get their own bags. Needless to say; we flight attendants were lightheaded. Our faces were reddish and some of us were having minor palpitations. Once; when I went to the bathroom in flight operations; the purser was vomiting. I myself was feeling nauseous and lightheaded. We all went to the clinic accompanied by a company supervisor.