A total of nine children have had a health check, at least seven of them in hospital, after possibly inhaling nitric acid on a school trip to Stathelle in Bamble municipality.
Less than 20 minutes ago
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A school class with elementary school students from Stathelle primary school was on Monday on a trip to a play area at Stathelle. Close to the play area, there is an industrial area that several of the students snuck away to.
There they climbed up to a large tub that stood outdoors, which later turned out to be nitric acid in. When they pushed away the lid of the tub, a cloud of dust and smoke came up. It is thus feared that several of them have inhaled nitric acid.
A total of nine people have received a health check. At least seven of them have been in hospital.
– What I know is that there were two pieces left the last time I was in contact with the hospital an hour and a half ago, says Rector Gro Lien to VG at 22 Monday night.
Lien has had continuous contact with her parents throughout the evening. Those who were sent home did not have any symptoms.
– If no one develops symptoms within the next few hours, it can look like it has gone quite well, says the principal.
Also Varden and Telemark newspaper has discussed the matter.
Was sent home
Father Rune Sørensen tells VG that he received a phone call at 2 pm as the system man from the parents of the five children at the age of 10 who were first reported to have inhaled the steam.
He was then informed that it had been a near-accident. Sørensen then demanded that the children be sent to the emergency room for a check.
His son Jakob was allowed to go home from hospital in exchange for being observed until 01 o’clock last night and then behaving calmly for the next 12 hours. Jakob coughs a little, but it goes very well.
As far as Sørensen knows, it seems to have gone well with the other children as well.
– From what I know, it looks like it has gone very, very well. But you can not know for sure until a few more hours have passed.
The police are opening a case
The police were notified of the incident at 14.59 on Monday. The five children were taken to the emergency room at 4.30 pm. At the emergency room, the parents were told if the children had to go to hospital.
Later, several other children who were nearby were also sent for a check-up, according to Sørensen
The police have no information that anyone has been given the drug.
– The police have opened an investigation case on the matter and are further investigating the cause and extent, says operations manager Espen Reite in the South-East police district to VG on Monday night.
Critical
Rune Sørensen is happy that it has apparently gone so well, but is critical of the children gaining access to the acid.
Inhalation of nitric acid vapor can lead to catarrh of the bronchi, pneumonia and etching of the alveoli, according to Store Norsk Leksikon. It can also etch on the digestive organs.
– It could have gone so incredibly much worse, so it’s just incredible luck that it has gone the way it has done, Sørensen says.
It could have been younger children, they could have drunk it or poured it on each other in the belief that it was water, he says.
Sørensen is critical of the fact that the entire area was not closed off, and that the nitric acid was not locked up.
– They went further than they should, and they should not have been there. But it was very easily accessible. And even though some areas were blocked, that was not where they got in, he says.
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