KHYBER: A 12-year-old boy has died and over 400 more have been affected due to a water-borne disease in a village of Landi Kotal in Khyber tribal district during the last two weeks.

Local sources in Pasedkhel, a village near Torkham border, told Dawn that at least 35 persons, mostly children, were admitted to district headquarters hospital in Landi Kotal while nearly 400 more were recuperating at their homes after consuming water from a natural spring.

Azad Wali, a local resident, told this scribe by mobile phone that residents of Moorgikhel and Zaaikhel localities were fetching water from a natural spring since long as they had no alternate source of drinking water.

He said that residents of the two localities started suffering from high fever about two weeks ago with one of the affected boy dying on Tuesday.

Mr Wali said that the residents of the area had stopped using or consuming water from the said natural spring and instead they were relying on water tankers.

He said that local doctors with the assistance of district administration arranged a free medical camp a few days ago but the actual cause of the disease could not be ascertained.

The medical superintendent of the district headquarters hospital, Dr Nekdad Afridi, said that his team was trying to provide the best possible treatment to the affected people of Pasedkhel area but the type of the disease was not known yet. He said that a health team had sent samples of the spring water to Islamabad to determine the presence of any toxic elements in the said water.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2020