Four pupils of Ta-Alim Primary School and Quran Memorisation Centre in Kisasi, Kampala, have died after falling ill with stomach complications. Police say preliminary findings point to suspected poisoning.Police identified the pupils as 11-year-olds Mariam Nakitende (P.4), Rwahim Kiruta (P.5) and Nasuna Nusufa (P.4), and nine-year-old Nabeta Failuzi (P.3).Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Rachel Kawala said investigations were ongoing and detectives would visit the village where oranges the pupils reportedly ate came from. She said police medical teams were conducting postmortem examinations at Mulago City Mortuary to establish the exact cause of death.The school has been closed. Police homicide detectives cordoned off the premises with tape and declared it a crime scene.How it unfoldedIt is alleged that one pupil complained of stomach complications in the middle of Monday night and was given paracetamol. Her condition reportedly worsened, and other pupils began showing similar symptoms.Eria Matovu Makura, the area information secretary, said the school director and the dormitory matron first rushed the affected pupils to a nearby clinic for first aid. As their conditions worsened, the school began releasing pupils to their parents, while other parents also rushed to collect their children.Matovu said the school contacted local leaders at night, prompting him and the area defence secretary to visit. He said the school director, Musa Suna, told them the pupils had also eaten oranges shared by a 12-year-old P.4 pupil from Kifumbiro-Manyangwa in Wakiso district.Rashid Musa, a resident of Kifumbiro-Manyangwa and a close neighbour of Nasuna’s family, said he saw the oranges in a green polythene bag, with others scattered around the spot where the child reportedly picked them. He said the child collected them on Saturday and allegedly kept them to share with her schoolmates. URN could not independently verify his claims.Parents’ accountsMusa Ssekandi, a resident of Gayaza, said his wife received a call from the school headteacher saying their daughter, Nabeta, had worsened and should be picked up. When they reached a clinic near the school, her condition seemed to have stabilised by 5pm on Tuesday, so they took her home. She deteriorated again during the night and died on the way to Kasangati Hospital.Hassan Magumba of Kiwatule said his 11-year-old daughter, Mariam, was brought home at about 1pm, barely responsive and foaming at the mouth. The family rushed her to Anex Medical Centre, where she was pronounced dead at about 2pm.Another parent, Kiruta, said the sick children were taken home on boda bodas. His family rushed their child to Mulago Hospital, where blood tests reportedly ruled out malaria. Doctors then suspected food poisoning, he said, but the child died in the early hours of the morning. He accused the school administration of failing to explain what happened. He said the family had not been allowed to meet any administrator or the director and had only received phone calls asking about the children’s condition.Nantanda Nasim, mother of Nasuna Nusufa, said the school phoned to say her daughter was in critical condition. Her husband, Rashid Katongole, said the family wanted police to investigate thoroughly what the pupils ate and what caused their deaths.The post Four Kisasi pupils die in suspected poisoning appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.