India: 25 Children Die After Eating School Meal

Some 25 children, aged between four and 12, have died after eating free meals at a primary school in eastern India.

Dozens more needed hospital treatment in Patna, the Bihar state capital, after they fell ill following a lunch of rice, lentils, soybeans and potatoes on Tuesday. 

Medical teams treating the children say they suspect the food had been contaminated with insecticide at the school in Masrakh village in the Saran district.

Poonam Kumari, local government administrator at the village, said: "It appears to be a case of poisoning but we will have to wait for forensic reports ... Had it been a case of (natural) food poisoning, so many children would not have died."

A family with their son who fell ill after consuming a free school meal

Bihar's education minister PK Shahi said a preliminary investigation suggested the food contained traces of phosphate used as an insecticide to preserve rice and wheat crops.

It was not immediately clear how chemicals apparently ended up in the food but one official said the food may not have been properly washed before it was cooked.

Local villagers said the problem appeared to be with a side dish of soybeans and potatoes, not grain. Children who had not eaten that dish were fine, although they had eaten the rice and lentils, several villagers said.

Sky producer Neville Lazarus, in New Delhi, said: "Masrakh is in one of the poorest of the poor states in the country and in a remote place, so there weren't proper medical facilities."

A woman cries after hearing that her grandson was one of the victims

The meal was cooked in the school kitchen, and police have seized all the ingredients used. The cook, who also fell ill after eating the food, was taken to hospital.

R K Singh, medical superintendent at the children's hospital in Patna, said: "We feel that some kind of insecticide was either accidentally or intentionally mixed in the food, but that will be clear through investigations.

"We prepared antidotes and treated the children for organic phosphorous poisoning."

Authorities have suspended a food inspector and registered a case of criminal negligence against the head teacher, who has fled.

Free lunches are used as a way of increasing school attendance

Mr Shahi said: "In spite of the cook's complaint (over the smell of cooking oil used for the food), the headmistress insisted on its use and the cook made the food. The children had also complained about the food to the cook."

The cook, Manju Devi, told Reuters: "I thought that this is locally-made oil as often there is an accumulation of residual waste at the bottom ... generally we get just about enough oil to prepare one meal, as there is no space for storage."

The father of an ill child, Raja Yadav, told reporters that his son was vomiting after returning from school.

"As soon as my boy returned from school, we rushed to the hospital with him. His condition was not good," he said.

Bihar state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has also ordered an inquiry, announced that families of the dead children will be offered financial compensation of 200,000 rupees (£2,200).

Angry parents take to the streets in protest at the tragedy

Twenty-one of the children who died have been cremated while a further four are due to be cremated as angry residents armed with poles and sticks took to the streets in the city of Chapra to protest against the state government over the children's deaths.

"Hundreds of angry people staged a protest in Saran since late Tuesday night, demanding stern action against government officials responsible for this shocking incident," district government official S K Mall said.

Lazarus described the situation as "tense", with locals saying there was a delay in getting medical help to the children, contributing to the high death toll.

Free meals are offered to impoverished students in state-run schools as part of government welfare measures in many of India's 29 states

The lunches are hugely popular with poor families and educators see the meals as a way of increasing school attendance and stemming malnourishment.

But children often suffer from food poisoning due to poor hygiene in school kitchens and the sometimes poor quality food.

More than 130 students were taken to hospital in the western city of Pune last year after eating lunch at school, the Times of India reported.

A probe revealed that the food served to them was contaminated with E. coli bacteria, strains of which can cause food poisoning.

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