Ghaziabad, Sep 26 (IANS): Over 50 school children fell ill and were admitted to a hospital in this western Uttar Pradesh town after they consumed water from a hand pump in their school premises Friday, police said.

The incident took place in Kanhera village, 20 km from here.

An official said that soon after drinking water from the hand pump, students of a government school started vomiting and showed signs of diarrhoea.

Police helped rush the students in ambulances to hospitals here.

Police officer Jagdish Sharma said a police team has been deployed in the village to assist health department staff.

"The cover of the hand pump was found to be open and we cannot rule out the possibility that some foreign material may have been in the hand pump," Chief Medical Officer Ajay Aggarwal told IANS.

He said: "All the students, below nine years of age, were vomiting. About a dozen of them have been put under observation and are recovering."

He added that water samples have been sent for a test and the result was expected in three days.