Mumbai, Sept. 7: More than 100 children of three girl schools in Nagpur collapsed while taking part at a function celebrating one hundred years of Vande Mataram this afternoon, reports our special correspondent.

The girls felt giddy, thenstarted vomiting and eventually collapsed while singing the national song at a park in the Jaripatka locality of northern Nagpur around 2.30 pm.

Some of them were rushed to two hospitals and were later declared out of danger.

Students of the three schools had turned up for the function on an open ground after attending classes since 7 am.

Witnesses said the organisers had not arranged for food or water for the girls, all of them between classes I and VII. “They kept the students waiting in the sun for more than four hours,” one of them said.

The school authorities denied the allegation, saying the programme was of 25 minutes’ duration and the girls fell sick “because of the weather”.