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Three Columbia College Students Injured in Chemical Reaction

Columbia College
Columbia College
Columbia College

Three Columbia College students were injured this afternoon in what Columbia College’s Assistant Director of Public Relations Sam Fleury said was a “chemical reaction gone wrong.”

Fleury said the three students were working on an experiment in one of the chemistry labs in the Brouder Science Center when the incident occurred.

“The protocol went according to plan, they were taken immediately to a chemical shower where the chemicals were washed off of students,” he said. “They were all wearing goggles as they’re supposed to in the lab.”

Fleury said the Columbia Fire Department arrived within 10 minutes of the incident, which occurred around 1:30 p.m.

Battalion Chief Stephen G. Potter said crews remained on scene for about an hour until maintenance crews arrived to clean up the spill.

He said initial reports from joint communications indicated that only two students received chemical burns from nitrous acid.

“Our crews arrived on scene and fire crews actually located three patients,” Potter said.

Fleury said two of the students received minor injuries and were treated and released on the scene. The third student received moderate injuries and was taken to University Hospital for evaluation.

“It wasn’t really an explosion, I know that’s been reported some places; it was really just a chemical reaction gone wrong,” Fleury said.