TIMERGARA: Three members of a family died while two others were hospitalised after eating poisonous mushrooms they had brought from a nearby mountain at Shari Manrai village of Kotigram in Lower Dir, residents and hospital sources said on Thursday.

They said that the family of one Mohammad Khaliq ate mushrooms that some of its members had brought from a nearby mountain. They said that the family members felt uneasy immediately after consuming the mushrooms.

The mother of Mr Khaliq and his teen age daughter died at tehsil headquarters hospital, Chakdara, while Mr Khaliq, his wife and daughter were referred to Peshawar in critical condition the other day.

Doctor says most of mushrooms growing under trees are poisonous

The sources said that wife of Mr Khaliq also breathed her last in a Peshawar hospital on Thursday, while Mr Khaliq and one of his daughters were still under treatment there.

The incident spread panic among the villagers and announcements were made from a mosque, urging the people not to pick mushrooms growing under the trees or shady places.

When contacted, Dr Khaista Rehman told this correspondent that half of a poisonous mushroom was enough to kill a human being. He said that most of mushrooms growing under trees were supposed to be poisonous.

Meanwhile, a 10th grade student Ziaul Islam of Bajauro Talash was killed when a mini truck hit his motorcycle at Kalpani bazaar on Thursday. Police have taken the truck driver, Naseebullah, into custody.

MAIDAN ROAD: District development advisory committee, Lower Dir, chairman Saeed Gul has said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is spending Rs400 million on construction of Balambat-Kalpani road which would help ease people’s movement in the area.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the government degree college and Kalpani road projects at Lal Qila Maidan on Thursday. Tehsil councillor Bakhtiar Khan, district councillor Abdullah Shah and Fazal Rabbani also spoke on the occasion.

The committee chairman said that the government degree college, Maidan, was completed with a cost of Rs190 million and classes would be started there from next session. He said that a total of 86 students belonging to Maidan had been studying at different medical colleges.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the academic council of University of Malakand was held on Thursday with vice-chancellor Prof Johar Ali Khan in the chair. The meeting gave approval to the courses and syllabuses, selection of members for advanced studies and research board, and by-laws for research scholars. Mr Ali thanked the participants and said that ranking of the university was improving day by day.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2015

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