Some 22 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."
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.
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.
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).