23 injured after substance sprayed at Osaka junior high school

OSAKA – Twenty-three people, mainly students, were injured after an unknown substance was sprayed at a municipal junior high school in the city of Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture, on Friday morning.

According to the city’s board of education, 15 students and eight school staff members that include teachers said they were experiencing sore throats and skin irritation after the incident. None of them were said to be seriously injured.

Around 10:40 a.m., an emergency call to police was made to report that a substance had been sprayed and that people had been injured.

After arriving at the scene, the Osaka Prefectural Police detained a second-year male student of the school outside the school building.

The boy has admitted to spraying a substance, and the police will investigate him on suspicion of causing injuries to others, sources said.

The incident took place on the day of the school’s term-closing ceremony, after which the boy and a female student had a dispute, according to the sources.

The school is in a residential area about 500 meters northeast of Mizuma Railway’s Mikeyamaguchi Station.

A second-year male student, who was cleaning a classroom on the second floor of the school building when the incident happened, recalled a teacher rushing into the room and asking whether anybody was experiencing pain in their throats.

The student expressed concern, saying, “I feel sorry for those injured.”