YAN (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Forty-eight boarding students at SMK Guar Chempedak were rushed to Hospital Yan with symptoms of food poisoning after eating at the school hostel's canteen.

The state Health Department has ordered the canteen to be closed.

Yan police chief Muhd Halim Yatim said it was believed the students fell sick after having their meals there.

It is understood that the students were rushed to hospital in the schoolbus at 8am on Wednesday (Oct 5) after they reported having stomachaches and feeling dizzy from 11pm on Tuesday (Oct 4).

Fatin Nabihah Amir, 13, suspects the sardine dumplings and kaya dumplings that she ate at 3.30pm and 10pm on Tuesday to be the cause of the food poisoning.

"The dumplings tasted strange. I also ate sambal udang which was very spicy," she said.

Muhammad Farhan Hakimi Roslan, 13, said he too ate the dumplings and started having diarrhoea just before midnight on Tuesday.

Form Three student Siti Noraishah Abdullah, 15, claimed the dumpling she ate was spoilt and the sambal udang she had for dinner was too spicy.

"Those two were probably the cause of the food poisoning. Many students had diarrhoea and were vomiting," she said.

Form Five student Norzaiti Saiful said she ate the sambal udang on Tuesday evening and felt ill when she woke up.

State Health Department director Norhizan Ismail said in a statement that "the sambal udang prepared in the kitchen of the hostel was suspected to be the cause of the food poisoning".