A student’s panic attack causes chain reaction in Carcar school; 20 hospitalized

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Around 20 senior high school students of Can-asujan National High School in barangay Can-asujan, Carcar City in southern Cebu have experienced hyperventilation, at past 11 a.m. today, July 8.

Can-asujan Barangay Captain Richard Satinitigan told CDN-Digital that the students were already brought to the Carcar Provincial Hospital, after they experienced a panic attack due to anxiety and stress.

He also sent personnel to the hospital to look after the condition of the students.

Stress, Charter Day

Carcar City Councilor Jay Garcia also said that the students might have experienced stress, after they participated in the Festival of Festivals activity, in line with the celebration of Carcar City Charter Day on Saturday.

“Ang Charter Day namo bag-o ra man gud pod nahuman unya nag-Festival of Festivals mi last Saturday, mga participants ang mostly nag-ingon ani,” Garcia said.

(We just celebrated our Charter Day where we had a Festival of Festivals last Saturday, June 29. Most of the participants also experienced what these students experienced.)

Not possessed

He also denied that the students were possessed by evil spirits, which was earlier reported to them.

Kim Lauron, Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer of Carcar City, said in a phone interview with CDN Digital that while the students were having classes, one of the students suddenly experienced a panic attack and fainted.

The student experienced difficulty in breathing while her body suddenly got heavy. Afterwards, other students suddenly felt the same.

Chain reaction

He said that when they responded to the area, the students were already lying down and were being fanned by teachers and their classmates.

Lauron said that when the students were already calm, they were immediately brought to the Carcar Provincial Hospital.

“Ang mga bata makakita man gud nga naa siyay kauban nga nag-panic attack. So na-kopya, natan-aw sa mga bata ang sitwasyon. Mura nakulbaan pod ang uban. Hilabi na kadtong mga gipangkapoy, so mao na nagsugod na ang chain reaction,” Lauron said.

(The students saw one of their classmates experiencing a panic attack. They then felt the same especially since they saw what happened to their classmate. Those who were really tired were easily affected by what they saw and this started a chain reaction.)

Lauron said that they also suspended the classes of Can-asujan National High School today, in order to avoid further chain reaction of the hyperventilation./dbs