Food poisoning may have caused the deaths of six resident students in a village in north China's Shanxi Province, said local government officials on Wednesday.

Officials said the six boarders, two boys and four girls, in the primary school of Nanyao Village, Puxian County, died on Monday evening.

The pupils, aged between 6 and 10, became unwell at around 8:30 PM on Monday and died before they were sent to hospital at 9:40 PM.

The other five students in the tiny school of 11 pupils were transferred to a nearby school. 

Police are investigating the cause of the deaths, the sources said.

Samples from the dead pupils have been sent to the provincial capital of Taiyuan and the national capital of Beijing for tests to be carried-out.

Vice Mayor of Linfen City, Miao Yuanli, went to Puxian on Monday night to deal with the situation. 

(Xinhua News Agency December 6, 2006)