About 70 students of G. V. Raja Sports School at Mailam, Thiruvananthapuram, were taken ill and 27 of them admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital (MCH) here since the early hours on Saturday following suspected food poisoning.

The general condition of the students currently under treatment in the wards is satisfactory, MCH authorities said.

Four of the affected students have been admitted to the Peroorkada government hospital. Some students have been kept under observation there while several others were sent back after observation as their condition was satisfactory

Following the directive of the Designated Officer of Food Safety, a special squad of food safety officials from the district inspected the school mess and after collecting samples of the food items to be sent for lab analysis, ordered that the mess be closed down temporarily.

Director of Public Instruction K. V. Mohankumar, in a statement here, said that the school will remain closed till August 3 as the food safety wing has instructed that the mess be closed temporarily.