Students Sever Fingers During Tug-Of-War

High school students in California lost several fingers during a game of tug-of-war at lunch on Monday.

The students, a boy and a girl, lost four fingers each and are both conscious after surgery to re-attach the lost appendages. It is not known right now whether surgery was completely successful.

The students, an un-identified male and female, are students at El Monte Union High School east of Los Angeles.

According to Fox News, the boy is a football player for the school and the girl is soccer player. Both are under 18 years old. After the accident, the pair were taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center to undergo surgery to re-attach their lost fingers.

BBC News reports that both students lost four fingers. However, BBC News also claims there is a discrepancy with the sheriff’s account, which says the girl lost three fingers on one hand and two on the other.

During the game, the students had wrapped the rope around their hands when it snapped, severing their fingers.

The school district superintendent has made counseling available to any students who need it. No classes have been cancelled.

Both students are awake, and their parents are with them at the hospital.

This is not the first time a game of tug-of-war has caused injury to students. In Colorado in 2007, two student severed parts of their hands during the game. Then in 2008, a Minnesota girl lost four fingers playing the game. Her fingers were successfully re-attached.

Schools have been in the news a lot recently for a number of reasons. In good news, it was recently reported that Google Chromebooks are now being used in 2,000 schools nationwide. Unfortunately, bullying still runs rampant in schools and is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Do you find it alarming that students lost fingers while playing tug-of-war at school?

[image via Btindall45 / Wikimedia Commons