BEIJING (AP) - Government officials and hospitals refused to give an account of deaths in the poisoning of hundreds of students and workers sickened after eating breakfast snacks in eastern China.

More than 200 people had been poisoned and ``a number'' had died, according to reports in the government-controlled official media. There was no immediate word Sunday on the cause of the poisonings, first reported early Saturday in Tangshan county, a rural district of Nanjing city.

Newspapers in Hong Kong said the death toll was at least 41 and possibly as high as 80.

Reports said victims became sick after eating fried dough sticks, sesame cakes and glutinous rice bought at a branch of the Heshengyuan Soybean Milk Shop. Most of the victims were students at the nearby Zuochang Middle School and migrant construction workers. School officials refused to answer questions.

Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper said China's official Xinhua News Agency had briefly reported 41 dead on Saturday, but had then quickly deleted the report. It said hospital officials indicated the death toll could be as high as 80.

Ming Pao said more than 600 had been poisoned and cited analysts saying the symptoms were consistent with exposure to rat poison. Victims spat blood and bled from their ears and noses before collapsing, it said.

In an indication of the incident's seriousness, the Communist Party's national headquarters in Beijing and China's Cabinet have ordered health officials and investigators to Nanjing. Police must make ``the most strenuous efforts'' to uncover the cause of the poisonings, official newspapers said.

People who answered phones at hospitals where victims were sent refused to say how many had died, citing a city Health Bureau order not to provide information to journalists. Bureau officials refused to comment on the case, saying they had no obligation to do so. Local government officials would only say that an investigation was underway.