A day after 136 students collapsed at a Kompong Cham high school while standing at attention as punishment for not showing deference to the national flag, the local police chief offered a unique explanation for the mass fainting - trees.
"According to the hospital's analysis, the reason why the students fainted is [because of] the huge tree in the school compound and the farmland surrounding the school, which absorbed the oxygen," said Heng Meng, police chief of Chamkar Leu district, adding that the punishment could not be blamed as one of the teachers "also [had difficulty breathing] and felt dizzy".
Heng Phal Rith, school director of Bosknor high school in Chamkar Leu district, also cited the hospital's report in blaming the incident on a lack of oxygen, adding that he "did not punish the students. It is just a rumour".
A doctor from the local hospital, Iv Then, said that based on his examination, the lack of oxygen was due to an abundance of trees, which trapped the oxygen, adding that the first four or five students fainted because they were standing under the school's large medicinal oil tree.
World Health Organization representative Dr Pieter van Maaren said that while he was not a biologist by trade, the explanation admittedly sounded a bit odd.
"Dating back to my own biology classes, green plants and trees actually produce oxygen rather than capture it, so I'm a bit puzzled by [the explanation]," he said, adding that if they had said that the trees were producing a certain smell that affected the students' composure, it might be more plausible.
Chamkar Leu District governor Ith Dara said he does not have any plans to charge the school director, because the incident was caused by nature.
Reader Comments
"World Health Organization representative Dr Pieter van Maaren said that while he was not a biologist by trade, the explanation admittedly sounded a bit odd."
This UN official has a duty to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights! Punishing these children in this way was a clear human rights violation. Fainting among people forced to stand for long periods is common. The excuse from the Chinese doctor and officials is total rubbish.
This UN official has shirked from his duty by being "reasonable" about the Chinese explanations for the sake of decorum, or some such. This is not the time to be "reasonable" in the face of insanity! We need to call things as they obviously are! These children were being bullied - you could even say tortured - by whoever ordered them to do this. It should be duly noted as a human rights violation.
The saddest part of this story, overall, is that there is no mention of the fact that, in the daytime, trees take in carbon dioxide, and emit oxygen (the opposite happens at night).
So standing under a tree or in a forest during the day is actually giving you more oxygen than otherwise, not less. I learned that in school when I was maybe 10 years old.
This should have been posted in "Don't panic, Lighten Up" not in "Science & Technology". The dumbing-down process has been effective, it seems.
Sigh...