13 girls in hospital in Tamil Nadu after midday meal

Chennai  :  Around 155 girl students fell ill Thursday after taking midday meals at their school in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu, a senior official said, adding 13 had been hospitalized.

The incident took place at the NLC Girls School in Neyveli. The 13 have been taken to a government hospital for observation, said the official. Neyveli is around 210 km from Chennai.

“Their condition is stable. Most probably they will be discharged Friday morning,” Cuddalore district collector K. Kirlosh Kumar told IANS over telephone.

He said the probable cause for the mass sickness was food poisoning. The food samples had been sent to laboratory for testing.

In the aftermath of a similar tragedy in Bihar that led to the death of 22 school students, anxious parents gathered outside the Neyveli hospital, resulting in tension.