Pesticide in Lunch That Killed 23 in Bihar, Forensic Report Says

NEW DELHI â€" An Indian forensic science laboratory has confirmed the high presence of a pesticide in the midday meal that killed 23 children last Tuesday. Twenty-five children and a cook are still hospitalized for treatment.

‘‘The forensic laboratory found monocrotophos in the food. It is a compound of organophospohorus and used to kill pests in agricultural fields,’’ Ravinder Kumar, a senior police officer, said Sunday by phone from Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar.

‘‘How this poison found its way to midday meals in school is a matter of investigation,’’ said Mr. Kumar.

The incident took place in Dharamsati Gandaman village in the Saran district of Bihar. Within half an hour of eating a free lunch of rice and potato soybean curry, children started falling ill.

They were rushed by parents to a nearby government primary health center that was not equipped to handle such a large number of patients. Children were shifted to a district hospital about 32 kilometers, or 20 miles, away and eventually to Patna around midnight. By that time, 20 children were dead. Three died later.

The school’s headmistress remains missing after absconding with her family, and the police are trying to trace her.

‘‘Her house is locked. Now her interrogation is very crucial to find how the poison got mixed with the food,’’ Abhijit Sinha, the chief civil servant of the Saran district, said by phone Sunday.

The main cook and her two children are also recovering in the hospital. After children complained that the food tasted bad, the cook also ate some of it. A second cook’s two children also died. The second cook did not eat the tainted food, but her two children did, Mr. Sinha said.

All the patients in the hospital are out of danger and being kept for observation.

‘‘At times, the aftereffects of poison surface on the third or fifth day because poison gets into the tissue cells,’’ Dr. Amarkant Jha Amar, the medical superintendent of Patna Medical College Hospital, said Sunday, also by phone. ‘‘We hope to release the children and the cook tomorrow or the day after. Now they are healthy and walking and playing among themselves.’’