11 students, 1 staff member injured in chemical explosion at Sydney primary school
Investigations into the incident will be undertaken by the relevant authorities, including the Department of Education and NSW Police.
SYDNEY: Eleven students aged around 10 years old and one staff member of a primary school in Australia’s Sydney were injured in a science experiment explosion on Monday.
New South Wales (NSW) Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said that the incident took place around 1:00 p.m. local time at Manly West Public School, located on Sydney’s northern beaches, injuring 11 students from Year 5 and one staff member during an outdoor science class.
“Investigations into the incident will be undertaken by the relevant authorities, including the Department of Education and NSW Police. In addition, SafeWork NSW has been notified and they will carry out their own investigation in due course,” said the minister.
On Tuesday morning, Mitchell updated Channel 7’s Sunrise program on the children’s situation, confirming that there are still two students remaining in the hospital for treatment.
Local media reported that the students were taking part in a common science experiment known as the “black snake”, which involves a pile of baking soda and sugar being set alight.
“Two of those children were transported in serious condition, one transported by CareFlight aircraft and the others transported by road,” NSW Ambulance Acting Superintendent Phil Templeman told reporters.
He noted that the children had sustained burns to the upper body, chest, face and legs, but all of them, apart from the two in a serious condition, were “stable with relatively superficial injuries.”
“Obviously, the wind conditions have impacted this particular experiment today and have blown some of the chemicals they were using around a little bit more than was expected,” said Templeman.
According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, a severe weather warning for damaging wind was in place for NSW on Monday. As a late spring cold burst was moving over southeast Australia, widespread strong to damaging winds above 90 km/h continued to hit the state.
-Xinhua
