Nearly 100 Indian schoolchildren were hospitalised with suspected food poisoning Thursday after eating a free midday meal at a government-run school near Mumbai, police said, adding that some were in a critical condition.

“Ninety-seven have been admitted to hospital, a few of them are critical.

 They started vomiting after eating their midday meal,” Shrikrishna Kokate, deputy police chief of Palghar district in the western state of Maharashtra told AFP.