Paralakhemundi,Dec.14 : In a suspected case of food poisoning, at least 86 girl inmates of Tabarsingh Tribal Residential Welfare (TRW) hostel fell sick after consuming dinner last night and were admitted to hospital.
As per the report, the incident took place late last night soon after the inmates of the school hostel were served rice and ‘dalma’ in their dinner and went to sleep. All the students reported symptoms like head reeling, nausea and vomiting pointing at infected food.
“We rushed the sick students in auto-rickshaws first to Ramgiri PHC after some inmates of the school hostel arrived at my home and knocked the door late in the night. They were later shifted to Paralakhemundi Hospital in critical condition later,” said a local.
Meanwhile, the Gajapati District Collector has rushed a health team to visit the hospital to take stock of the situation. Similarly, the local police and a food inspector have been sent to the school to collect food samples.
On the other hand, some locals have suspected that an ongoing dispute between two cooks at the school hostel is behind the incident. They feared a cook who had been transferred a few time ago from the school might have tried to avenge the action by poisoning the inmates’ food.
An investigation is underway in the case.
Prasanta Patnaik