India: 21 Children Die After Eating School Meal

[Jazzy]

Some 21 children, aged between eight and 11, have died after eating free meals at a primary school in eastern India.

At least another 35 children remain in hospital in Patna, the Bihar state capital. Ten of the youngsters are in a critical condition.

They fell ill after eating a lunch of rice and lentils in Masrakh village in the Saran district on Tuesday.

They were rushed to hospital in the capital, some 50 miles (80km) south of the village.

Some of the other sick children were taken to hospital in nearby Chaapra.

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."

The meal was cooked in the school kitchen, and police have seized all the ingredients used.

Lazarus said the cook and her two children had also died.

Bihar's Education Minister P K Shahi said a preliminary investigation suggested the food had traces of phosphorous, which is used to preserve rice and wheat.

"It is sad but true that 20 children died after eating their midday meal, which appears to be poisonous," the minister said.

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

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).

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The shame is that if they got medical attention faster, the death toll wouldn't have been as high. Plus the life of a child isn't worth much, eh?

 

[Evil Eye]

That's pretty sad :/

Plus the life of a child isn't worth much, eh?

It's almost 3 years worth of their highest minimum wage. To put that into perspective, 3 years of minimum wage in the US would yield about $45k. I'd say that's pretty reasonable, no replacement of course, but not as bad as £2k sounds.