Xian (China), Aug 17 (Xinhua) Several hundred villagers in northwest China's Shaanxi province Monday stormed a smelting plant to protest lead poisoning of over 600 children.

The villagers became agitated after a teenager in Changqing township in Fengxiang county in Baoji attempted to commit suicide by drinking pesticide Sunday after her request for a blood test was denied by her parents.

At least 615 children, of a total 731 under the age of 14 living in two villages near the plant have shown excessive lead levels in their blood systems.

Of them, 166 serious cases were diagnosed as having lead levels of more than 250 mg per litre of blood compared with the normal zero to 100 mg a liter. Over 150 were hospitalized.

Ma Jiaojiao, 19, Monday said she had asked her mother for money Sunday to get a blood test because she feared that she might be suffering from lead poisoning.

'My mom said it was unnecessary because I am much older than 14,' Ma said from her ward at the People's Hospital in Baoji. 'We had a bad quarrel.'

She then bought pesticide and swallowed it at around 6 p.m. Her mother found her shortly afterward and she was taken to Baoji for treatment.

The news of her attempted suicide spread among the villagers Monday morning.

Several hundred people swarmed the factory area of Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co., dismantled 300 metres of fencing around a railway yard reserved for the company, and smashed trucks and other vehicles.