The free mid-day meals at a school near Chhapra, Bihar, proved fatal for 20 children on Wednesday. Most of those who died, allegedly due to food poisoning, were aged below 10 years.
Another 40 children who were provided the meals fell seriously ill and were admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital. The incident took place at the government school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village in Saran district, around 25 km from Chhapra.
"Nearly 50 students got very sick after eating the mid-day meal at home. By the time they were taken to PSC Mashrak, two children died. By the time they came to us, seven more children had died. We're treating the children at the moment. Doctors found some foreign chemical matter present. The post-mortem of some of the children is complete. The doctors did their best to save the children, but there was so much poison in their food that the doctors couldn't save them all," Chhapra's District Magistrate Abhijeet Sinha told NDTV.
Civil surgeon Shambhunath Singh confirmed to The Hindu that the students died of "food poisoning and yellow phosphorous poisoning". Reports said that the poisoning may have been caused by the presence of pesticides or insecticides in the food. The meals consisted of rice, dal and soyabean.
Parents complained that dead lizards, frogs, insects have been found in the past in the mid-day meals.
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