Answers sought after school lunch kills 23
Source: Agencies |
July 19, 2013, Friday
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SOON after they served the daily free lunch they had prepared for children at a rural Indian school, the two cooks realized something was wrong. The students started fainting. Within hours, they began dying.
By yesterday afternoon, 23 children between the ages of 5 and 12 had died from eating food laced with insecticide and many others had fallen ill.
Authorities discovered a container of pesticide in the school's cooking area next to the vegetable cooking oil and mustard oil, but it wasn't yet known if that container was the source, said Amarjeet Sinha, a top official in the state of Bihar, where the tragedy took place.
Some officials said it appeared that the rice had been tainted with pesticide and might not have been properly washed.
"It's not a case of food poisoning. It's a case of poison in food in a large quantity, going by the instant deaths," Sinha said.
More answers are expected today, when a forensic laboratory is due to issue the results of its tests on the dead children, the food and the uncooked grain stored by the principal in her house, he said. Police were searching for the principal, who fled after the students started falling sick, Sinha said.
Cooks Manju Devi and Pano Devi said the principal controlled the food for the free lunch provided by the government.
On Tuesday morning, she gave the cooks rice, potatoes, soy and other ingredients to prepare the meal and went about her business. As the children ate, they started fainting, the cooks said.
The two cooks were not spared either. Manju Devi, 30, ate some of the food and fainted. Her three children, ages 5, 8 and 13, fell ill as well. All were in stable condition yesterday.
While Pano Devi, 35, didn't eat the food, her three children did. Two died and the third, a four-year-old, was in hospital.
"I will stop cooking at the school," she said. "I am so horrified that I wouldn't grieve more if my surviving child died."
Sinha said one of the cooks told authorities that the cooking oil appeared different than usual, but the principal told her to use it anyway. Doctors believed the food contained an organophosphate, he said.
The free midday meal was served to the children on Tuesday in Gandamal village in Masrakh block, 80 kilometers north of Patna, the Bihar state capital.
Those who survived the poison were unlikely to suffer serious aftereffects, said Patna Medical College hospital superintendent Amarkant Jha Amar.
"The effects of poisoning will be washed after a period of time from the tissue," Amar said.
Amar said yesterday that post-mortem reports confirmed that insecticide was in the food or oil. He said authorities were waiting for lab results for more details on the chemicals.
By yesterday afternoon, 23 children between the ages of 5 and 12 had died from eating food laced with insecticide and many others had fallen ill.
Authorities discovered a container of pesticide in the school's cooking area next to the vegetable cooking oil and mustard oil, but it wasn't yet known if that container was the source, said Amarjeet Sinha, a top official in the state of Bihar, where the tragedy took place.
Some officials said it appeared that the rice had been tainted with pesticide and might not have been properly washed.
"It's not a case of food poisoning. It's a case of poison in food in a large quantity, going by the instant deaths," Sinha said.
More answers are expected today, when a forensic laboratory is due to issue the results of its tests on the dead children, the food and the uncooked grain stored by the principal in her house, he said. Police were searching for the principal, who fled after the students started falling sick, Sinha said.
Cooks Manju Devi and Pano Devi said the principal controlled the food for the free lunch provided by the government.
On Tuesday morning, she gave the cooks rice, potatoes, soy and other ingredients to prepare the meal and went about her business. As the children ate, they started fainting, the cooks said.
The two cooks were not spared either. Manju Devi, 30, ate some of the food and fainted. Her three children, ages 5, 8 and 13, fell ill as well. All were in stable condition yesterday.
While Pano Devi, 35, didn't eat the food, her three children did. Two died and the third, a four-year-old, was in hospital.
"I will stop cooking at the school," she said. "I am so horrified that I wouldn't grieve more if my surviving child died."
Sinha said one of the cooks told authorities that the cooking oil appeared different than usual, but the principal told her to use it anyway. Doctors believed the food contained an organophosphate, he said.
The free midday meal was served to the children on Tuesday in Gandamal village in Masrakh block, 80 kilometers north of Patna, the Bihar state capital.
Those who survived the poison were unlikely to suffer serious aftereffects, said Patna Medical College hospital superintendent Amarkant Jha Amar.
"The effects of poisoning will be washed after a period of time from the tissue," Amar said.
Amar said yesterday that post-mortem reports confirmed that insecticide was in the food or oil. He said authorities were waiting for lab results for more details on the chemicals.
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