Over 100 students fall ill after eating food at State-run school in Odisha, 1 dead; CM orders probe

Over 100 students fell ill and one of them, a Class 5 student, died on Tuesday (April 14, 2026), two days after having a meal at a government-run tribal residential school in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, following which Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi ordered a probe, officials said.

Officials said the students of the Kakabandha Ashram School complained of discomfort and fell ill after eating food items “not mentioned in the authorised menu” on Sunday (April 12, 2026) morning. Their parents claimed the children had fermented rice (‘pakhala’), mashed potatoes, and mango chutney, following which they suffered fromdiarrhea and vomiting.