11 students suffer burns after science experiment goes wrong in Sydney school

As many as 11 students and a teacher suffered burns after a science experiment went wrong at a primary school in Australia’s Sydney. Out of the 11 injured students, two sustained serious injuries due to the explosion during an experiment involving sodium bicarbonate and methylated spirits.

Police and paramedics were called to Manly West Public School in Sydney around 1 pm local time on Monday. The two students, who survived serious injuries on their faces and chests, were transported to Westmead Hospital, one by road and another by helicopter, reported 1 News.

Among the mildly injured, five children were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital, while the other four were treated at the Northern Beaches Hospital.

“Road crews and a specialist medical team on board the CareFlight helicopter are responding to an incident involving multiple patients with burns,” said the New South Wales (NSW) ambulance.

According to the NSW ambulance acting superintendent Phil Templeman, the experiment was affected due to the wind.

“I’m of the understanding it’s a fairly routine science experiment that is conducted within schools, and the winds today have hampered that particular experiment and caused a bigger reaction than was expected.”

Children, believed to be aged between 10 and 11, suffered burns on their bodies, including face, chest, lower abdomen and legs, reported Sydney Morning Herald. The injured students were “conscious, breathing, relatively stable” but “needed some intervention from a specialist burns unit”, said Templeman.

A student present at the scene told 9News that an experiment was being conducted on a sports field when the wind caught it and blew into kids. The nature of the science experiment, however, remains unclear.

Describing the incident as “kind of scary”, the student said, “it was just meant to be a little science experiment, but it got a bit out of hand”.