Maqsood Khan and (bottom) all the four affected students. Telegraph pictures

Sambalpur, March 11: An unidentified gas from an abandoned bottle caused a lot of pain for four students of Kuchinda Boys’ Upper Primary School, located at 75km away from here.

The hurt students were identified as Mohit Pradhan and Pruthviraj Pradhan of Class V, Chaitu Behera of Class II and Md. Maqsood Khan of Class IV. They have been admitted to the VSS Medical College and Hospital at Burla near here.

According to eyewitnesses, the poisonous gas was discharged when Pruthviraj picked up the abandoned bottle and tried to uncork it. As the gas started coming out, Pruthviraj dropped it the ground.

“Pruthviraj tried to open the bottle lying on the playground and suddenly started screaming in pain. When we went close to him, the gas got into our eyes as well,” said Maqsood. “We rushed to the tubewell near the playground and washed our eyes. However, our eyes were still burning and the pain did not stop,” he added.

“As soon as the school authorities informed us about the incident, we rushed to Kuchinda Hospital and the doctors referred our children to VS.S. Medical College and Hospital,” said Bhawani Pradhan, father of Mohit.

“The test reports are awaited but the doctor said the children are out of danger,” said Pramod Behera, father of Chaitu. “We are waiting for the medical report,” said investigating officer of the case P.K. Pattnaik.