Cinfaes, Viseu, Portugal, Nov. 14, 2025 (Lusa) - The Souselo School Group in Cinfães, in northern Portugal, has opened an internal investigation to determine how a pupil at the Fonte Coberta school lost the tips of two fingers, the school's head told the Lusa news agency on Friday.
"The management was made aware of the situation (which occurred on Monday) and opened an internal investigation to ascertain the facts," said Carlos Silveira, adding that "insurance was activated the very next day."
The situation was reported by Nivia Estevam, who on Instagram describes herself as "the mother of the nine-year-old child who had his fingertips amputated inside the school in Portugal," in the municipality of Cinfães, region of Viseu.
"Two children closed the door on my son's fingers" when he went to the bathroom, preventing him "from leaving and asking for help," Nivia Estevam said in one of her posts, adding that the boy "lost a lot of blood and had to crawl under the door with his fingers already amputated."
The boy underwent three hours of surgery at São João Hospital in Porto and will be left with "physical and psychological consequences," she said, asking for legal help to deal with the situation he is experiencing.
According to Nivia Estevam, Monday's episode happened after she had already made other complaints about "hair pulling, kicking and hanging", and "no action was taken by the school".
The mother criticised the fact that, on Monday, the school did not call the police, did not explain the seriousness of the situation to her (which she only realised when she was already in the ambulance) and that the staff cleaned "the entire area" of the incident.
"The school is treating this as a prank that went wrong," she lamented.
Carlos Silveira declined to give further details about what happened on Monday, as the internal investigation is ongoing, but assured that the "emergency services were called promptly" and the school followed the appropriate procedures.
"There is no PSP (Public Security Police) in Cinfães, only GNR (National Republican Guard). When the ambulance service INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency) is called, if it considers that it is a serious situation, it automatically contacts the law enforcement services," he explained.
Nivia Estevam's request for help was heard and a group of 15 lawyers has already made themselves available to handle the case.
"We will file a complaint with the public prosecutor's office and we will handle the administrative process, the school's civil liability in terms of surveillance and the civil case," lawyer Catarina Zuccaro told Lusa.
With regard to the criminal issue, the lawyers will study what can be done, because "those involved are minors," but they will have to be held accountable, she added.
"There are 15 of us lawyers who will be acting on this. Each group will take on a part: the criminal, the administrative and the civil," said Catarina Zuccaro.
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Lusa
