About 120 students at a Christian school in Oddar Meanchey’s Trapaing Prasat district came down with food poisoning after consuming a dessert served by the school on Wednesday, though officials confirmed that all were “recovering well”.

According to Preah Brolay commune police chief Chea Nimol, all 190 students in DPC school – a Christian institution that provides free Khmer and English classes – were served a bowl of a traditional Cambodian dessert of banana and tapioca pearls in coconut milk on that day as their daily snack. Within the next hour, a total of 124 students aged between 9 and 13 were vomiting and experiencing stomachaches.

Of those, 54 were sent to Prasat Krahom Sen Chey Health Centre in the commune.

“We have treated them well, some were given some pills . . . All of them have returned home,” said Chuch Sim, chief of the health centre.

The other 70 students who suffered more severe cases were sent to the district referral hospital.

“The doctors said they are getting better and will be going home soon,” Nimol said, adding that a sample of the dessert had been sent to the provincial hospital for inspection.