Sixty students and one teacher have been admitted to a hospital by Monday after breathing a strange-smelling gas at a primary school in Yangling district, Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province in northwest China.

All the victims are from the Qidi private school. They were in stable conditions after treatment, said doctors at the Yangling district hospital.

Teachers and students in the school smell an extremely nasty smell at about 9:40 Sunday. By 10:00 a.m., some students began to show symptoms of stomachaches, headaches and nausea.

The first five students were rushed to the hospital at 12:40 a.m. By 2:00 p.m. Monday, 61 students and a teachers were admitted to the hospital.

An investigation into the incident is under way, but doctors had excluded the possibility of food poisoning or epidemics. They suspected gas poisoning.

There were 210 students taking extra lessons in the school when the accident happened. The district education authority has ordered the school to cancel the lessons immediately.

Chinese schools are now in the summer holiday. Extra lessons during the holiday are banned by the education authority.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2008)