Swati S. Kumar, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Rayagada, Odisha, said a fifth-grade student threw a chemical at at least four seventh-grade students. The chemical was so strong that all four students suffered severe burns. They have been hospitalized, with one in critical condition.

Bhubaneswar: A shocking incident has emerged from Odisha's Rayagada district. Four students were reportedly severely burned at a school there. It is reported that the students were experimenting with a liquid chemical when the incident occurred. All four students were severely burned in the acid fire. One student is reported to be in critical condition. A senior official said the incident occurred near a government school under the jurisdiction of the Muniguda police station. The students' parents allege that the accused student threw the flammable liquid on their children and set them on fire. Shockingly, the student who threw the chemical on the students is a fifth-grade student.

Rayagada Collector Ashutosh Kulkarni said the incident occurred at a construction site near the school. He expressed surprise as to how the fifth-grade student procured the flammable substance. Locals claimed the accused threw paint thinner at the four students

Students were experimenting

Kulkarni said, "Our priority now is to save the children." He added that of the four children who were burned, three are in the seventh grade and one is in the fifth grade. The Superintendent of Police stated that preliminary investigations indicate that the students, out of curiosity, were experimenting with starting a fire using thinner, a solvent used to thin paint. During this experiment, they suffered severe burns.

Learned to make chemicals from YouTube videos

The children are being treated at a hospital in Rayagada. One child is in critical condition. According to police sources, the incident occurred Monday afternoon while the children were playing on the school campus. One of the children had learned about the flammability of thinner from a video streaming platform.

The mother of the victim child told what she saw

The children experimented out of curiosity. One child poured a large amount of thinner on the fire, and suddenly the fire caught their clothes, injuring them. Muniguda police have started investigating the case. The mother of a student said that the school peon's son called four students, poured the thinner on them, and set them on fire. All four students have been admitted to the hospital, and my son is in critical condition. I immediately rushed to the hospital upon receiving the news and found my son in critical condition.

 PC:NBT