Thirty seven Grade 2 pupils were yesterday rushed to Mpilo Central Hospital after some of them started vomiting after eating poisonous Jatropha fruits.
Sources at Manondwane Primary School in Bulawayo’s Nketa 7 said 16 pupils ingested the toxic fruits at the school playground at around 10AM and the rest of the class was taken for treatment as a precaution.
Some of the children, sources said, had soiled themselves and a majority were writhing in pain.
A cacophony of sirens from five ambulances pierced the air in the normally peaceful Nketa 7 suburb in Bulawayo as the children were rushed to hospital.
As news of the incident spread through the suburb, panicking parents flocked to the school to determine if their children were safe. School authorities phoned those whose children were ferried to the hospital.
The children were treated at the paediatric ward.
Parents aid the school should cut down the tree to prevent a repeat of the horror.
“It’s scary to know that such dangerous trees exist in schools. Our kids’ are no longer safe and I hear that many schools planted them. They should just chop them down.”
Bulawayo provincial education director Dan Moyo yesterday professed ignorance over the matter while Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango said: “We’ve heard of the issue but the details are still coming in.”
- Chronicle
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