Mid-day meal horror: 66 children and head cook fall ill after eating meal

At least 66 students and a head cook today fell ill after eating mid-day meal at a primary school here in Bihar's Vishali district.

The children, students of class one to five, began vomiting and fell unconscious after eating the meal, head mistress of Govindpur Sanduari Primary School Sunita Kumari said. The head cook, who had tasted the food before serving it to the children, too started vomiting and fell unconscious, she said.

The principal said she had immediately informed all district officials, including district magistrate and district education officer, about the incident. The children were rushed by their guardians to Hajipur Sadar hospital, whose deputy superintendent U P Verma said they were out of danger.

District Magistrate Vinod Gunjal, SP Chandrika Prasad, sub-divisional officer Somesh Bahadur Mathur and district education officer Nayan Kumar Verma visited the hospital and supervised their treatment. Gunjal later set up an inquiry committee headed by civil SDO Hajipur, S B Mathur and the DEO to probe the incident.