Three siblings, two brothers and a sister, from Evaton Primary School in Gauteng, South Africa, died on Monday after eating breakfast brought from home. On the same day, a secondary school pupil in Ekurhuleni in the same region died after swallowing rat poison.
According to the Gauteng Education Department, the siblings became unwell at school. When asked what they had eaten, the children said they had eaten “pasta, milk and biscuits taken from home”.
A teacher who was starting classes, having noticed strange symptoms in one of the pupils, took him to the school infirmary. A moment later, his brother and sister were also admitted. “The children were taken to a nearby clinic, but they could not be saved,” explained Steve Mabona, spokesman for the Gauteng education department, to the media.
Schoolgirls swallowed rat poison
On the same day, two female students at Ekurhuleni High School swallowed rat poison scattered on the school grounds during class.
“One of the students fainted and had to be carried to the school's administration building, while the other, although visibly weak, managed to walk there on her own,” Mabona said.
Emergency services and the parents of the students were immediately notified. One of them died before help arrived, the other was taken to a local medical facility.
Police are investigating the deaths of four children.
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