A junior high school student in St. John's has been suspended for lighting a firecracker on his school bus.

According to accounts of the incident, the boy lit the firecracker on a bus on Wednesday afternoon. After lighting it, the student became scared and tossed it out a window.

The boy, a Grade 8 student at Brother Rice Junior High, was suspended Thursday from school for five days.

He has also been suspended indefinitely from the school bus.

The incident — in which a second student has been suspended for three days for giving the boy a light — has been the talk of the school.

"A lot of people were joking about it, but it's not really funny," a Brother Rice student told CBC News.

An official with the St. John's regional fire department said the incident is believed to be the first of its kind.

Although fireworks are widely available in local stores, by law only customers 18 and older are allowed to buy them.