From the St Hilda's fight, a hero emerges -- in the form of this tall boy

A viral video of a fight among three students at St Hilda's Secondary School has sparked numerous heated comments, many of which slammed an adult at the scene for his passiveness in handling the situation.

The incident occurred on Sep 11 and started with two male students confronting a third boy in a classroom.

It culminated with the three of them exchanging blows, while their peers and a male adult, who was standing by the door, watched on.

The vice-principal of St. Hilda’s Secondary School, Miss Tan Yee Leng, later clarified that the adult was "an intern with an external agency" who "chanced upon the incident when walking along the corridor".

She told Stomp in a statement that the intern "had called out to the students to stop the fight but they did not heed him."

"Since he is not one of our teachers, he would not have the training or authority to manage the situation," she added.

However, netizens reacted negatively and said the adult should have intervened and stopped the fight, regardless of whether he was an intern or staff member.

Users on Stomp's website and Facebook said that stopping a fight is a "common human instinct" and "anyone" could have taken the initiative to do something.

Yet, while this intern was getting flak for his lack of action, there was another guy who has been attracting attention online: A tall student who entered the classroom and broke up the fight.

Netizens have been referring to him as "the tall boy" and praised him for stepping up to stop the altercation.

Browse the gallery above to see more reactions and comments about the incident.