Raipur, Aug 6 - Nearly 40 students of a Chhattisgarh government school were taken ill Thursday after they ate a mid-day meal into which a lizard had fallen, an official said.

The incident took place at Abhanpur block in Raipur district, some 30 km from here.

The official said some 38 of the 156 students up to Class 5 of the Singarbhata village government primary school started vomiting after eating the lunch.

'There is a report that a lizard was found in the meal. It looks like a case of food poisoning,' District Collector Sanjay Garg told reporters. An investigation has been ordered, he said.

The sick students were taken to a health centre, where the condition of some of them was stated to be critical.