13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Two 8th-grade boys burned during science experiment

Two 8th-grade boys burned during science experiment

Cat Andersen/Eyewitness News

Lafayette - A science experiment during an 8th grade class burst into flames on Wednesday morning, flaring up in the faces of two Wainwright Middle school students who were watching.

"The burns were mainly in the facial and the abdomen area basically from the waist up," said Scott Hanback, the superintendent of Tippecanoe School Corporation.

The 14- and 15-year-old victims were rushed to the hospital. The younger student had to be airlifted to Riley Hospital.

"The student's shirt actually caught fire," said Hanback.

He says the science teacher was also injured trying to put out the flames that covered the student. "He actually knocked him to the ground to try to extinguish the flames that way," said Hanback.

"We put the school on lockdown just to ease of the traffic flow so we could get emergency medical teams in and out," said Principal Neal McCutcheon, Wainwright Middle School.

The superintendent says the experiment used isopropyl alcohol (also known as rubbing alcohol) as a fuel source to test how metal reacts to heat.

"There was a glass container with alcohol in the container that was burning, and so to increase the heat, the teacher poured more alcohol onto that fire and that's when we believe there was the flare-up," said Hanback.

He says the experiment has been performed by the veteran teacher for at least 15 years. They're trying to figure out what happened this time. Hanback said, "Nobody was horsing around. The students were not the ones handling the isopropyl alcohol. It was the teacher that actually had the bottle of isopropyl alcohol in his hand and was pouring it into the fire and the students were merely observers."

Hanback says the science teacher is taking some time off.

"He's pretty emotional, pretty shaken up. He just decided it was in his best interest not to be back at the school today," said Hanback.