Death toll in the free mid-day meal poisoning at a village school in the Indian eastern state of Bihar has risen to 20 on Wednesday, and it is feared that the number might go up.
The tragedy occurred on Tuesday after the kids consumed the tainted free mid-day meal at the school. Mid-day meals are an effort to boost school attendance.
"Nearly 50 students got very sick after eating the mid-day meal.. By the time they were taken to PSC Mashrak, two children died. By the time they came to us, seven more children had died. We're treating the children at the moment. Doctors found some foreign chemical matter present. The post-mortem of some of the children is complete. The doctors did their best to save the children, but there was so much poison in their food that the doctors couldn't save them all," said Abhijeet Sinha, District Magistrate of the region where the school is located, according to NDTV.
Following the incident, villagers held protests in front of a local police station demanding action against the school authorities.
Reports said that poisoning could have been caused by the presence of insecticides or pesticides in the free food given at the school.
Residents said that dead frogs, insects and lizards have been found in the school's free meals in the past.
Chief Minister of the state, Nitish Kumar, has called for a high-level inquiry into the incident. A compensation of Indian Rupee 200,000 ($3,370 ) has been announced for the families of each of the deceased.
Opposition party leaders are demanding the resignation of the chief minister.
