Children exposed to pesticide hospitalized

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Some 50 grade school pupils in an upland town in Maguindanao del Norte were rushed to a hospital Wednesday due exposure to a potent insecticide, local officials said.

The victims are pupils of Mirab Elementary School in Barangay Mirab in Upi town, who first complained of headache and nausea after inhaling what responding police probers and municipal health service personnel believe could be pesticide mist that contaminated the air, from a corn farm nearby.

The sick grade school pupils were immediately transported by ambulances to the government-run Datu Blah Sinsuat District Hospital in the town proper of Upi, where majority of residents are ethnic Tedurays, an indigenous group relying largely on farming as means of livelihood.

Barangay officials told reporters there were farmers spraying insecticide in farm lots adjacent to the school campus before pupils complained of dizziness and nausea.

The Bangsamoro Rapid Emergency Action on Disaster Incidence, most known as READi, a quick deployment disaster and calamity response contingent, will help investigate the incident, Regional Local Government Minister Naguib Sinarimbo told reporters.

Sinarimbo, who is overseeing the operations of READi, said they will seek the help of the Bangsamoro health ministry in trying to establish what made the school children sick.