A 10-year-old boy who sustained serious head injuries in an Invercargill schoolyard yesterday is now in an induced coma.
Police said today they were continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the ''tragic incident''.
The boy remains in a critical condition at Dunedin Hospital after undergoing surgery last night.
He has been placed in an induced coma and is in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit.
Earlier story
Police remain tight-lipped over how a 10-year-old boy sustained serious head injuries in an Invercargill schoolyard yesterday.
A team of 15 detectives and uniformed police was formed yesterday to piece together details of the ''tragic incident'', which resulted in the Sacred Heart School pupil being taken to Dunedin Hospital in a critical condition, police said.
Emergency services were called to the Catholic primary school in North Rd, in the north Invercargill suburb of Waikiwi, about 8.35am, following the incident.
The boy was taken to Southland Hospital in a critical condition before being transferred to Dunedin Hospital's intensive care unit by helicopter.
Police have released few details about the incident. Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Stu Harvey said in a statement the boy's injuries were a result of a ''tragic incident''.
Officers were yet to verify exactly what had happened and were still ''investigating the circumstances behind this incident''.
Victim Support staff attended the school yesterday and would continue to assist the school and the Ministry of Education, he said.
Southern police spokesman Nic Barkley confirmed police had interviewed several people in relation to the boy's injuries and the matter was being led by Invercargill CIB.
He would not comment on whether any other people or pupils were involved in the incident.
''We have spoken to a number of people at the school in regards to what happened,'' he said.
''We need to make sure that someone else is involved [before police comment].
''We are still trying to figure out what's happened and who was around at the time of the incident.''
He could not comment on where the incident happened within school grounds and said ''this forms part of our investigation''.
Ministry of Education head of sector enablement and support Katrina Casey said children, parents and staff at the school were ''clearly very upset'' by the incident.
''We have two of our traumatic incident staff at the school to provide support and we will make that support available for as long as it is needed,'' she said.
When asked whether any pupils were sent home from the school yesterday, a ministry spokeswoman referred all comment to the school.
Board of trustees chairman Paul Brooks said the school did not have all the details of the incident, but confirmed it happened within school grounds.
A letter to parents sent home with pupils described the incident as an ''accident'', but the appropriate term was ''incident'', he said.
''I wasn't at the school when it happened and I'm relying on information that has been relayed to me from school management and police,'' he said.
Classes continued as normal at the school and it would be open again on Monday.
When asked if any pupils were sent home from school yesterday, he said: ''I can't divulge any of that information, simply because I don't know.
''What we have got at the moment is a lot of speculation,'' he said.
''A lot of the speculation that I have heard has no basis in fact.
''We have told our parents what we can tell them.''
Principal Peter Forde said he did not know the details of how the child's injuries occurred and referred all comment to the board of trustees.
Police are expected to release more details of what caused the injuries during the weekend.
