Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31: A nine-year-old girl died and at least 20 other inmates of a government-run hostel for tribal girls in Nayagarh district fell ill after consuming food at the residential school.

Three of them were admitted to Capital Hospital after their condition deteriorated.

The incident took place at Kendua Sevashram, which runs a school for Class I to Class VIII students under Ranapur block, nearly 100 km from here.

Soon after dinner last night, students complained of nausea, vomiting, stomach upset and fever.

The district administration suspended an assistant superintendent, a cook and a helper and has ordered a probe into the incident.

The students were rushed to a government hospital in Tangi.

However, Class IV student Mini Majhi from Mohana in Gajapat district died on the way to the hospital this morning.

“We took the dinner as usual and I went to sleep. But soon after I started feeling uneasy and threw up,” said Priyanka, a Class III student, who was among the three victims to be referred to Capital Hospital.

The condition of the girls is, however, stable.

The district administration has asked the hostel authorities to submit a detailed report of the incident.

“We have sent a team to collect the food samples served in the hostel yesterday. Once we have all the reports the exact cause of the incident could be ascertained,” said district collector Hemant Padhi.

However, senior district administration officials said that it would be premature to conclude food poisoning as reason behind the incident.

“Only 20 inmates out of the 62 students fell sick. It won’t be fair to conclude so soon that it was a case of food poisoning,” said an official.