23 Indian children killed after eating meal containing pesticide

23 Indian Children was killed on Tuesday after eating a meal of rice and potatoes at their school in Bihar State. The children got terribly sick only minutes after eating the meal, suffering from stomach cramps and vomiting.

The meal that tragically killed 23 children, was part of India’s school lunch program that feeds 120 million children in a fight against malnutrition.

A Senior police official, Ravindra Kumar, told reporters on Sunday after an initial forensic investigation that the meals had been prepared with cooking oil containing monocrotophos, an organophosphorus compound used as an agricultural pesticide. According to a forensic report, the pesticide contained about five times more than the commercial version.

Abhijit Sinha, district magistrate said that it is highly poisonous and highly toxic and, therefore has to be diluted more than five times when used as commercial pesticides. One liter of monocrotophos is mixed with five liters of water.
Apparently the headmistress of the school fled after the deaths of the 23 Indian children. Friday police said that it’s possible that the meals might have been kept inside containers that was previously used to store the pesticide..