Children sick after suspected poisoning

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-7-2  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

MORE than 60 children became ill after drinking water suspected of being deliberately poisoned at a primary school in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region yesterday.

Thirty-four of them are still being treated at the People's Hospital of Guanyang County, where the incident happened, and their parents had arrived to take care of them, said Zou Xin, vice head of the county government.

The rest were under observation at the school, said Zou.

The children, all from the boarding school at Dengjia Village of Xinjie Town, suffered stomach problems, headaches and nausea after drinking the water provided by a public water supplier at the school dining room in the morning.

"It is a surprise. It happened before class. Luckily, some of the children in the school just didn't drink the water," said a teacher, who declined to give his name.

Police found the water of the school's storage tank smelled of pesticide and had an ivory-white substance floating in it.

An empty coke bottle, which is suspected of containing the poison, was found by the tank.

An investigation into the incident is under way.

The county education department has accused the school of mismanagement.

The county health department staff had the water discharged and the tank disinfected later in the day and the water supply has resumed.