Two primary school students suffered serious burns to their face and chest and were rushed to hospital after a science experiment at a school on Sydney’s northern beaches went wrong.
Around 1:30 pm on Monday, about 11 students and one adult - understood to be their teacher - were injured after taking part in a science demonstration to create a “black snake” or “sugar snake” with baking soda, a sugar mixture and an accelerant.
Authorities say the year 5 students, all aged about 10, and one teacher suffered burns to their faces, chests, lower abdomen and legs when strong winds sprayed sodium bicarbonate and methylated spirits onto their bodies during the outdoor activity.
One of the students with serious burns was airlifted to Westmead children’s hospital while the other student was taken to that hospital by ambulance.
The children in a serious condition are “conscious, breathing, relatively stable” but had “needed some intervention from a specialist burns unit”.
The other children were “walking and stable with relatively superficial injuries”, NSW Ambulance Acting Supt, Phil Templeman said.
One student said to Nine News: “It was just meant to be a little science experiment, but it got a bit out of hand."
Nine other students were taken to the Royal North Shore and Northern Beaches hospitals. The adult was also admitted to the hospital and is in a stable condition.
Mr Templeman said it went wrong due to the weather : “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.”
He continued: “We received multiple triple zero calls reporting that a number of children had sustained burns during a science experiment, which was being conducted outside.
“Thankfully, the majority of the students were not badly injured."
The NSW education minister, Sarah Mitchell, thanked school staff who “acted so quickly to provide first aid and call emergency services”.
