Primary school students injured after science experiment goes wrong

Two children in Sydney primary school suffer serious injuries on their faces and chests while several others mildly injured

Representative: A paramedic unloads a patient from an ambulance on 10 January 2022 in Sydney, Australia (Getty Images)

Two children in a primary school in Australia suffered serious injuries on their faces and chests while several were mildly injured when a “routine” science experiment went wrong.

Police and paramedics were called to Manly West Public School in Sydney around 1pm local time on Monday, after 12 people, including 11 students and one teacher, were injured following an explosion during an experiment involving sodium bicarbonate and methylated spirits.

Two students surviving 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 remaining 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 New South Wales (NSW) ambulance.

According to the NSW ambulance acting superintendent Phil Templeman, the experiment was affected due to the wind and it blew some of the chemicals that were used.

“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 Mr Templeman.

A student present at the scene told 9News that an experiment was being conducted from a sports field when the wind caught it and blew into kids. The nature of 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”.