BEIJING (Reuters) - More than 60 children fell ill after drinking water that may have been deliberately poisoned at a primary school in southern China, state media reported on Tuesday.
Thirty-four were still in hospital, suffering fromheadaches and nausea, and the rest were under observation attheir rural school in Guangxi province after drinking the waterin their school canteen, the official Xinhua news agencyreported.
The water in the school's storage tank smelled of pesticideand police found an empty bottle that they suspected ofcontaining the poison, Xinhua said.
While the investigation is continuing, local educationofficials have already accused the school of mismanagement, itadded.
Scandals involving substandard food or medicines arereported regularly by Chinese media and schools have beeninvolved before.
A primary school headmistress was jailed last year fortaking kickbacks from an unlicensed food company thatindirectly led to nearly 200 children falling ill. In aseparate case last year, a college student was arrested onsuspicion of poisoning his classmates' water.
Food and drug safety in China has grabbed global attentionover the past year after its products sparked scares abroad,from substandard pet feed in the United States to allegedlytainted dumplings in Japan.
(Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch; editing by Dominic Evans)
