Tainan prosecutors probe death of student over alleged bullying

Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA) The Tainan District Prosecutors Office on Friday said it is investigating a case involving a teenage student who died earlier this week due to alleged bullying at school.

A preliminary examination has been carried out, but an autopsy will not be conducted to determine the exact cause of death until next week, prosecutors said.

According to police, no obvious external trauma was found on the deceased junior high school student.

The incident only came to light on Thursday after the boy's mother posted on Facebook saying her son passed away on Feb. 24 and a subsequent blood test conducted by a hospital found "signs of poisoning from a toxic substance."

The mother also claimed that some students have said her son was bullied for a long time and even taken to the restroom by another classmates who allegedly force-fed him illicit drugs.

In a separate Facebook post the same day, the school principal said the student had been off school since Feb. 20 due to being unwell and he only later learned from his parents that he later died at hospital.

Meanwhile, the parents have asked the school to investigate the alleged bullying, the principal said.

On Friday, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) demanded that the incident be thoroughly investigated, stressing that there is zero tolerance for drugs on school campuses.

Two students implicated in the case have undergone several urine tests for illicit drugs but those came back negative, according to the school principal.