Food poisoning may have caused the deaths of six resident
students in a village in north China's Shanxi Province, said local government
officials on Wednesday.
Officials said the six boarders, two boys and four girls, in the
primary school of Nanyao Village, Puxian County, died on Monday
evening.
The pupils, aged between 6 and 10, became unwell at around 8:30
PM on Monday and died before they were sent to hospital at 9:40
PM.
The other five students in the tiny school of 11 pupils were
transferred to a nearby school.?
Police are investigating the cause of the deaths, the sources
said.
Samples from the dead pupils have been sent to the provincial
capital of Taiyuan and the national capital of Beijing for tests to
be carried-out.
Vice Mayor of Linfen City, Miao Yuanli, went to Puxian on Monday
night to deal with the situation.?
(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2006)