VietNamNet Bridge – Although the explosive packages inside Chinese toys sent more than 30 pupils to hospital, tests show that the substances in these packages are not toxic.

Toy explodes, 32 students hospitalized in Dak Lak

Six pupils were hospitalized twice.

The police of Dak Song district, Dak Nong province said that according to the test results they received from the HCM City-based Institute of Criminal Sciences, the packages inside the Chinese toys that exploded and harmed over 30 pupils of a secondary school in the province contain two main ingredients - Citric Acid (C6H8O7) and Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3).

These substances are not toxic and not be banned in Vietnam. When they are mixed together, they will create a type of salt that is used as additive and preservative. Thus, these substances could not produce symptoms of chest tightness, shortness of breath, body cramping and bloody bowels for the 36 pupils.

However, some parents, teachers and students said that not all toys contained toxins, just several toys that the pupils used.

Some students were hospitalized for the second time and some of them are still treated at the General Hospital of Dak Nong province.

Specifically, a number of pupils used the explosive packages at noon on January 16 but nobody got poisoned. At about 1.20pm the same day, they continued to use these explosive packages and 36 children were affected and were hospitalized.

Related to the incident, in the afternoon of January 22, Dr. Le Thi Chi, Chief of the Pediatrics Ward of the General Hospital of Dak Nong province, said that three pupils were still being treated at the hospital.

At about 2pm on January 16, 36 students of Chu Van An Primary School in Duc An town, Dak Song district, Dak Nong province were hospitalized in a state of emergency after playing with the explosive packages originating from China.

By noon January 17, 36 students were discharged from the hospital but soon after that, six students were re-admitted to hospital for emergency because of breathing difficulties, seizures, bloody bowel movement, etc.

P. Linh