At Least 57 Students Poisoned By Mysterious Substance In Mexico Rural Secondary School

A Mexican secondary school found many of its students reportedly poisoned with an unknown substance on Friday, the third such poisoning instance in a Mexican school in the past few weeks, prompting parents to question why the incidents were happening in the first place.

A rural community called Bochil in the Chiapas region in Mexico found itself the victim of a poisoning that has affected over 57 students, with many of them entering a local hospital displaying symptoms of poisoning. Although most students are in stable condition, one student was reportedly in a very “delicate” situation, according to Reuters.

The poisoning is the third of its kind in the region in the past few weeks, with many questioning the state prosecutor regarding the increasing frequency of the incidents. The city of Tapachula, for example, found itself at the epicenter of two separate poisoning incidents that have affected dozens of students, asianet newsable reported.

The state prosecutor’s office said that they have conducted multiple toxicology tests in order to detect what kind of illicit material was used to poison the students, but so far, the substance has yet to be identified clearly.

Online footage of the poisoning shows teenagers in the school, still wearing their uniforms, being carried out by a ‘frantic’ school staff towards the medics on the scene, as the chaos of the situation appears to have many of the adults shouting in fear, The Sun reported.

With the increased amount of poisoning targeted towards schools that are apparently poisoning their children, many parents went to the basketball court of the secondary school in order to demand answers from government officials regarding their concerns. One parent claimed that he had his daughter tested in a private laboratory, and they found trace amounts of cocaine in her blood, along with other students that she was with. It is unclear if the parent who tested his daughter gave the government their findings for verification.

The state prosecutor’s office has refused to answer questions related to the other poisonings, but has vowed to continue testing the children in order to find out what kind of substance was used to poison them.