A total of 117 students fell ill and were hospitalized after eating lunch at a school cafeteria Wednesday in the Shiyan city, central China's Hubei Province, according to a source with the municipal education department on Thursday.

The sickened students from the Wenjin Middle School were immediately rushed to hospital and as of Thursday morning all of them had recovered except one who still suffered a headache, said the source from the local education department.

All the students are currently under intense medical observation.

The local health authority suspected that spoiled food served by the cafeteria was the direct cause of the incident. However, further investigation is underway.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2003)