A second child has died in southern Siberia after a suspected outbreak of meningitis. Both youngsters were pupils at the same nursery in the town of Abakan, RT reported.
23 children from the same nursery group were taken to hospital with symptoms of food poisoning. After several days a two-year-old girl died, prompting sanitary inspectors and investigators to rush to the kindergarten. Now a second child has died after spending several days in a coma.
The nursery group the children had attended has been put under quarantine, with local officials promising to examine all the children in the kindergarten.
But parents are demanding answers. They want to know why the nursery was not put under quarantine when the children were first rushed to hospital. There are also concerns that the other nursery groups remain open despite the fact 20 youngsters are still in hospital.
A criminal case has been opened and an investigation is underway. The director of the kindergarten has been charged with negligence leading to a person's death.
Tatiana Bogomolova from the local education department said: "The parents are free to keep their children at home after they're examined until we know the results. All the quarantine measures ordered by the Sanitary Inspectors have been taken. Basically, the situation in our kindergarten is normal."
Not all children in hospital have been given an exact diagnosis. Although many are said to have a respiratory infection, doctors say they suspect the deaths were caused by meningitis.