THREE form three pupils at St. John Paul II secondary school in Kahama municipality, Shinyanga Region have died of suffocation in a maize storage tank.

ACP Kenedy Mgani, the acting regional police commander, confirmed the incident here yesterday, saying it occurred on Wednesday close to midday at the school after they entered the storage tank to take some maize for the school’s food. They lacked fresh air and failed to come out leading to their losing consciousness deaths, he stated.

The pupils lost their lives as they were being rushed to the Kahama District Hospital for treatment, he said, citing their names as Abdul Ibrahim (17) from Mwanza city, Jonathan Mdabila (17), from Nzega District, Tabora Region and Paul Emmanuel of Kahama municipality.

Six pupils accompanied the teacher on duty, Moris Leo (54) to go to the maize storage tank to take the grain but after the pupils failed to remove the maize through a hole down the storage tank, the teacher instructed some pupils to enter inside the tank to push the maize.

After giving the order he left and went to the office to get tea, and three of the pupils climbed and entered the tank using the ladder. After more than 15 minutes elapsed those outside started to worry why the maize was not coming out.

As the pupils in the tank remained silent, the others went to inform the teacher on the matter, where the school leadership now gathered on the issue, he said.

The teachers arrived and checked what was going on there and quickly took the decision to break the tank by using an axe, found an opening to get them out and rushed them to a nearby clinic and later to the Kahama District Hospital, where it was seen that they had lost their lives.

The police are holding the teacher Moris, the one who was on duty for further interrogations and for his safety, he RPC noted, elaborating that the police and medical authorities were examining the bodies of the pupils.

They need to find out what sort of gas emissions caused them to lose consciousness in the tank, he stated.

Primary and secondary school teachers in the region need to take good care of pupils to avoid violation of human rights and the unnecessary deaths such as those that have occurred, he added.