As many as 35 students of the Government Lower Primary School in Rattigeri village of Kundagol taluk in Dharwad district fell sick after they consumed castor seeds mistaking them to be edible ones.
The students, who are suffering from stomach ache and vomiting, have been admitted to the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hospital in Hubballi and are being treated.
According to villagers, Thursday was a happy day for the students as they received new shoes and socks for the academic year and in a joyous mood, they ventured into the bushes in the surroundings of the school and ate the castor seeds mistaking them for some other fruit seed.
While some students started vomiting a few minutes after they ate the seeds, the others complained of stomach ache after reaching home.
Worried parents immediately rushed them to the Primary Health Centre in the village. And after preliminary treatment, the doctors there advised them to be shifted to KIMS Hospital in Hubballi. The children were rushed to KIMS in the night. The students aged between 5 and 8 were administered intravenous fluid and are now recuperating. Doctors said that their condition was stable. Kundagol MLA C.S. Shivalli visited the hospital to enquire about the condition of the students.
Chandru Dharwad, being treated at KIMS Hospital, said he and his sister ate the seeds while playing and after a while he had stomach pain. In a similar incident reported a few days ago in Saunshi in Kundagol taluk, 20 students had fallen sick after consuming castor seeds.
