Fifty five girl students were today taken ill after drinking water from hand pump in a Government girls’ school in Tharhar village in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district.

The girls studying in Kasturba Gandhi Vidyalaya fainted soon after drinking water from a handpump, Block Education Officer Shahjanand said.

While 48 sick girls have been taken to the Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Runnisaidpur block, the remaining seven were rushed to the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur, he said. The condition of those girls undergoing treatment at the PHC was stated to be stable, Shahjanand said.

It could be a suspected case of poisoning, sources said.

Senior district officials have reached the school to probe the matter, they said.