About 30 students at a school within three kilometres of the foundry where a metallic cylinder, containing caesium-137, is thought to have been melted down, have fallen sick, most of them have with a high fever, cough and runny nose, as the radiation scare intensifies.

The provincial administrative organisation has ordered officials concerned to assess the condition of the sick students and to report immediately to doctors at Kabin Buri district hospital if any of them develop serious symptoms.

Teachers at the school in Hat Nang Kaeo sub-district have reported that some of the students have missed classes because they have high fevers.

They said that, initially, doctors have prescribed medicine according to their symptoms.

Songkhram Sisawat, chief of the voluntary health group in Kabin Buri district, said that most of the sick students developed respiratory conditions.

Prachin Buri Governor Ronnarong Nakornjinda said today (Friday) that health officials have checked the conditions of 76 employees at the foundry and did not find any of them who had been exposed to radiation from caesium-137. He also offered an assurance to people in the province that their farm products are safe and free from radiation.

The Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology has randomly checked 120 samples of vegetables, fruit and fish in the province and have not found any of them contaminated with radiation.

Anucha Burapachaisri, the government spokesman, said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the police to investigate how the caesium-137 had disappeared from the steam power plant in Si Maha Phot district and to make sure that such an incident will not be repeated.