FAISALABAD, May 20: The gastroenteritis outbreak claimed lives of four more people, three children and a woman, here on Saturday taking the total death toll to eight in the past three days.

The most recent casualties— Muhammad Faisal (8), Shahzad (8), Akash Ahmad (1), Noor Bibi (65)— were also reported from Ghulam Muhammadabad, the locality which was allegedly supplied contaminated water by Wasa, resulting in the outbreak of the killer disease.

The deceased children had been admitted to private hospitals of the area for the last couple of days, while the old woman died at the General Hospital, Ghulam Muhammadabad.

Four persons, including three children, had died because of the disease on Thursday, while 500 others were brought to various city hospitals on Friday.

Hundreds of gastroenteritis patients, most of them minor children and aged people, were being treated at the government-run General, Allied and DHQ hospitals, besides various private healthcare facilities in the city.

According to sources, about 200 gastroenteritis cases were also reported in other parts of the city, including Madina Town, Batala Colony, Sharifpura, and Samanabad.

DHQ and Allied hospital officials also confirmed having received patients from areas other than Ghulam Muhammadabad.

Citizens have blasted the Wasa claims about the ‘pure water supply’ to the affected areas, quoting the reports carried by the print media last month which said sewage-mixed water supplied by the agency to many localities had caused various stomach and skin diseases among the residents.

Meanwhile, the committee constituted by the city district government to conduct a probe into the matter on Saturday recorded statements of some of government officials, including Wasa and health functionaries.

suicide: A student of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad committed suicide by taking poison on Thursday night.

Reports said Irfan Khan, a BSc student, had been upset for the last many months. He was found dead in his hostel room.

The university administration claimed that he fell in love with a fellow girl and killed himself in dejection.

Sources, however, claimed that some of the faculty members were maltreating him on the basis of biradari due to which he took the extreme measure.

The Civil Lines police have registered a case against three professors and are investigating.

It was the second such incident in the university in a month, as earlier a student ended his life owing to “indifference of professors over the biradari issue.”