Over 500 Egyptian students hit with food poisoning

CAIRO - As many as 561 Egyptian students of al-Azhar University have been infected with food poisoning, with no deaths reported, spokesman for the Ministry of Health Yahia Moussa told Xinhua on Tuesday.

"So far, the number of food poisoning cases among Azhar university students hit 561 people since Monday night," said Moussa.

The cases occurred in the dormitory of Al-Azhar University in Nasr City, east of the capital Cairo, after the student had their lunch meals from the students' city restaurant.

The poisoned students were moved to nearby hospitals to receive medical treatment.

In the meantime, hundreds of angry students staged a demonstration on Tuesday in front of the students' city and they will later march to Al-Azhar headquarters, calling for sacking president of Al-Azhar University Osama el-A'bd, the state-run MENA news agency reported.

According to MENA, el-A'bd ordered suspending of directors of the University City and the university nutrition department, and referring them to the General Prosecution for investigations.

A delegation from the Ministry of Health will head to the university to check the health measures in the restaurant of the university city.