A science workshop at a school in Angamaly in Kerala went up in smoke when a working model of a volcano exploded. About 59 students and their instructor. were injured. The explosion occurred at around 11.30 am Saturday in Holy Family High School, Angamaly.
The workshop was taking place in the grounds close to the back door and the cycle shed of the school. As indicated by reports, the spring of gushing lava that exploded was made by covering a half feet long PVC pipe loaded up with explosives, topped with layers of mud to give it an appearance of a mountain. There was an opening at the top through which the lava was supposed to flow.
As per the police, the explosive substance was used to display the emission impact for some time, and a tile was used to control and sustain the fire which would trigger the eruption.
Observers told the Times of India that on blast, the students who were standing around the model to watch were hit by bits of tiles and stones.
Two of the injured students were rushed into a private doctor's facility in the town while the rest of them endured minor injuries. One of the students received a deep bruise in his arm, while another got an injury in his eye.
The police have enlisted a body of evidence against the school for careless handling of hazardous substances. Tests from the blast have been sent to a lab in Kakkanad for investigation and to the criminological lab in Thiruvananthapuram, and the explanation behind the explosion will be out after the report is released, said the police, as per Manorama Online, Kerala's regional newspaper.
Volcanic emission is generally used as a favourite science experiment in schools all over the world. The impact caused by baking soda and vinegar is comparative in appearance to magma spilling out of the mouth of a live volcano.
