‘Bloodsucker’ rumour sows panic in Gondola, hundreds skip school

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‘Bloodsucker’ rumour sows panic in Gondola, hundreds skip school

11:37 CAT | 26 Apr 2018

O País

Rumours have been circulating since Tuesday morning that a student at the Panga-Panga Primary School in the village of Gondola had been attacked by a ‘bloodsucker’ who had subsequently disappeared with the child.

Presented with this information, our newspaper contacted several sources to try to ascertain its degree of truthfulness.

Arlindo Ngozo, the Gondola director of Education, Youth and Technology Services, said in a telephone interview that the rumour was spread by two young men who went through the school telling students on break that a ‘bloodsucker’ would appear shortly. Some students had taken the information seriously and, as a result, had nearly missed their provincial assessments on Monday.

“When we learned about it, we went there to find out what was happening and realised that it was a false alarm,” Ngozo said, adding the rumour’s instigators must be found and held accountable.

Police head of operations in Gondola Octavio Tarieque said that the police went to the school to clarify the situation and ascertained that the information was nothing more than a rumour whose origin was unknown.

“So far, we have had no family reporting the disappearance of any student, which leads us to conclude that this is just a big rumour,” Tarieque said, urging people not to spread rumours like these.

The district hospital similarly reported no admissions that could conceivably be connected with any alleged attack.

We did learn, however, that this Wednesday some students did not go to school to take their tests for fear of alleged bloodsucking attacks, but the education sector assured us that the situation was calm.

By Carlitos Cadangue

Source: O País