More than 200 elementary school students in Ho Chi Minh City experienced numbness in their lips as well as an itchy throat after having lunch at their school on Friday.
The students of Tan Huong Elementary School in Tan Phu District ate a soup made from giant elephant ear (Colocasia gigantea) stems during their lunch, according to principal Le Thi Thanh Thuy.
After the meal, 238 students felt numbness in their lips and had an itchy throat.
The school management board promptly contacted the local medical station and authorities for help for the students.
Two of them were rushed to Tan Phu District Hospital for tiredness and anxiety while the board called their parents to pick up the remaining 236 children and all the other students from school earlier than usual.
“My child’s homeroom teacher asked me to take him home early today,” said a parent interviewed by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper outside the school at around 3:00 pm on Friday.
The parent added that his kid, who did not eat the giant elephant ear stem soup, was in normal health.
Functional forces took samples of the foods served during Friday’s lunch at Tan Huong Elementary School to work out the cause, according to principal Thuy.
“For the time being, the school will temporarily stop giving students the giant elephant ear stem soup,” Thuy said.