The school at the center of an alleged pollution incident - which made headlines after hundreds of students reportedly became ill - had relocated to contaminated land before remedial treatment of its soil had been carried out, according to a government investigation team.

Changzhou Foreign Languages School found itself at the center of a media storm after reports claimed students had fallen ill at the school, which was subsequently said to have been built on toxic land contaminated by three chemical plants.

The team said the Xinbei district government failed to finish a soil treatment project in time and the school followed its original construction schedule. Students were moved to the new school in September.

According to the Changzhou government, all of those responsible, including people from the school and the chemical factories, will be investigated and punished if found guilty. Some of them have already been detained for investigation.

Health experts from the team said 909 students were examined at hospitals. Thyroid nodules were found in 247 of them, and 35 had lymphatic anomalies. However, the investigation team said it was hard to tell whether the diseases were directly related to pollution at the school site.

(China Daily 04/27/2016 page4)