At Least 57 Children Killed In Mexico Mass Poisoning

Mexico: At least 57 children were allegedly poisoned by an unknown toxin at a rural secondary school in the Mexican state of Chiapas on Friday, according to local authorities.

This is reportedly the third such poisoning incident reported from the Chiapas school, in the past two weeks, alarming the parents and frightening children.

The Mexican Social Security Institute said on Friday that 57 students, aged between 13 to 19 from the rural Bochil community, reported poisoning symptoms at the hospital. All of the students were in stable condition except for one who was taken to a hospital in the state’s capital in a “delicate” condition, the institute added.

However, the authority did not comment on the cause, but local media reported that some parents suspect that the kids may have consumed tainted food or water.

Bochil leaders were quoted saying in a statement, “We are outraged by these events,” adding that they had hired a state prosecutor for further investigation into the matter.

Social media videos depicted a hysterical scenario of adults carrying teenagers in school uniforms rushing along a hospital hallway while shouting anxiously.

In a video posted on Facebook, several parents gathered outside the secondary school’s basketball court and asked for answers from the authorities as more than a dozen police, some wearing shields stood by and watched.

One of the men in the film claimed that his daughter had been poisoned and that she and other classmates had tested positive for cocaine at a private lab.

After hearing rumours in the local media and on social media that pupils had tested positive for cocaine, the state prosecutor’s office posted on Saturday that it had conducted 15 toxicology tests, all of which had returned negative results.

There have been two prior circumstances of widespread poisoning in the city of Tapachula that have affected numerous kids.