Eight Students From Sydney’s Plumpton High School Pricked With Hypodermic Needle Found At A Bus Stop

Eight students from a school in Sydney, Australia, have received minor injuries from a hypodermic needle in what is being described as a prank gone wrong. Now, it will be a long wait for blood test results.

According to Australia’s ABC News, eight students at Plumpton High School in Sydney have been injured with a needle that NSW Ambulance believe was found by a fellow student at a bus stop.

“We assessed eight people on scene,” a spokesperson from NSW Ambulance told The Guardian Australia.

“Six of those were taken by their guardian or parents to local GPs as a precautionary measure. Two will be transported by us, again as a precautionary measure.”

The report states that paramedics were called to the school shortly before midday after the injuries were reported. While the injuries are considered to be “minor” by acting Inspector Shane Rolls, it is the results from the blood tests that will be the determining factor as to how serious the incident really was.

“While this is very concerning behavior, we want to reiterate that no students were stabbed as initial inquiries first may have led people to believe,” he said in a statement.

It is believed the situation occurred as a result of some sort of prank gone wrong.

“At this stage, we would believe it was a prank gone wrong. We will certainly be looking into if there was any malicious intent in this incident.”

Regardless of the intent, the school has said they will issue “strong disciplinary action against this student” who used “an implement that was used to prick other students.”

Seven teenagers have been stabbed with a syringe at a school in Plumpton in Sydney's south-west.

Emergency services are at Plumpton High School, treating victims for minor injuries to their hands and legs. https://t.co/eejSt2esm3

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) October 25, 2018

While it may be months before blood results are returned, Joe Ibrahim from NSW Ambulance suggests that the risk of infection from serious diseases was considered “quite low.”

“The puncture sites … were sort of quite minimal,” he said, according to ABC News.

Initial test results will be completed and the results will be issued quickly as a baseline. However, it can take up to three months for some diseases to develop and show up in blood work, so it will likely be a worrying time for the eight students involved as well as their families.

An assembly was called at Plumpton High School, which is situated approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the central business district of Sydney. However, parents started arriving at the school as soon as they heard the news on the internet, wanting to find out if their children were okay.

“I’m concerned, that’s why I want to ask is my son okay or not,” Nadia Baig said as she arrived. “I just read from the internet the news and my friends called me.”