© Associated PressSchoolchildren receive treatment at a hospital after falling ill soon after eating a free meal in India
At least 20 children have died and many others are sick after eating a free school lunch which was tainted by a heavy dose of insecticide, Indian officials said.
It was not immediately clear how chemicals ended up in the food in the school in the eastern state of Bihar, though one official said the food may not have been properly washed before it was cooked.
The children, aged between eight and 11, fell ill soon after eating their school lunch in Masrakh, a village 50 miles north of the state capital of Patna.
School authorities immediately stopped serving the meal of rice, lentils, soya and potatoes as the children started vomiting. The lunch, part of a popular country-wide campaign to give at least one hot meal to children from poor families, was cooked in the school kitchen.
The children were quickly rushed to a local hospital and later to Patna for treatment, said state official Abhijit Sinha. In addition to the 20 children who died, another 27 children as well as the school cook were admitted to hospital, he said. Ten of them were in a serious condition.