Over 20 students taken ill during musical chair rehearsal in Odisha’s Balasore

Soro/Balasore: In a shocking incident, over 20 students of a government school were taken ill during a rehearsal for sports competition in Soro municipality of Balasore district in Odisha today. The incident was reported from Badakhuri UGUPs Middle English School in Soro.

Sources said students of class 6,7 and 8 were rehearsing for a sports competition and playing musical chair when many of the children started complaining of uneasiness. As their condition deteriorated, teachers rushed them to Soro hospital. But there, some female students became critical and were referred to the district headquarters hospital. As many as three 108 ambulances were used to shift the sick students.

“My school mates were taken ill one after the other. All of them started feeling uneasy and complained of nausea during the musical chair rehearsal,” one of the students said, while dismissing suspected consumption of contaminated food at either their homes or school.

“The students were playing musical chair when some of them sat down and complained of breathlessness. This was barely 10-15 minutes into playing the sport. We noticed the students panting and sitting down and immediately shifted them to the hospital,” the school staff informed.

Meanwhile, the cause of illness is till not established. Investigation is underway. Till reports last came in, condition of the students was stable.