TAIYUAN -- Six resident students have possibly died of poisonous food in a village in north China's Shanxi Province, local government officials said on Wednesday.

The officials said the six boarders, including two boys and four girls, in the primary school of Nanyao village, Puxian county, died on Monday evening.

The six pupils at the ages of 6-10 were found sick at around 8:30 p.m. Monday and died before they were sent to hospital at 9:40 p.m.

The other five students in the tiny school of 11 pupils were transferred to a nearby school on the second day.

Police are investigating the cause of the deaths, the sources said.

Teachers and cooks with the school as well as their family members were put into custody for investigation.

Parents of the six victims were in deep mourning over the loss of their children.

Vomit samples of the dead were sent to the provincial capital of Taiyuan and the national capital of Beijing for test and determination.

Vice mayor of Linfen city Miao Yuanli rushed to Puxian on Monday night for the death accidents.

In November, a primary school principal in Southwest China's Sichuan Province was sacked over a food poisoning incident in late September that affected 92 pupils.