SUKKUR: Nine people, eight among them siblings and a guest, died and one was hospitalised reportedly after eating poisonous food in dinner in Haibat Khan Brohi village near Pir-jo-Goth, Khairpur district.

Sources in the village said that as soon as the 10-member family and their guest had had dinner last night, they started falling unconscious. Their relatives and neighbours rushed them to Kingri taluka hospital where three members of the family died and their bodies were returned to the heirs without autopsy as there were no doctors to perform it, they said.

Villagers accused paramedics and nurses of mishandling the victims in the absence of doctors, leading to deaths of three family members. Later, others also succumbed to the poison and hence nine siblings had died since last night, they said.

They said the victims included five sisters, three brothers and a guest. The 10th victim, whose condition was said to be unstable, was under treatment at the taluka hospital, they said.

The sources said that police brought back the bodies of Dildar, Dilbar, Ghulam Asghar, Manzoor, Ms Hajani, Ms Mariam, Ms Sonia, Ms Gonj Bibi and Fahmida, aged four to 18 years, to the taluka hospital after learning that they were handed back without autopsy.

Area’s SHO Ameer Ali Chang said that police investigators had started investigation of the incident and they were waiting for the post mortem reports to proceed further.

Gul Baig Brohi, father of the victims, said that his daughters and sons had died due to absence of doctors and mishandling at the taluka hospital. A post mortem examination had not been carried out yet, he said.

The sources said that late in Monday evening, a team of food officials from Sukkur took samples of the leftover food eaten by the victims and took them to Sukkur for examination.

CM takes notice

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and directed the Sukkur commissioner to get the incident investigated properly to ascertain the cause of death.

Officials briefed the CM that the ill-fated family had their own cattle and were likely self-sufficient in milk production and therefore, deaths due to contaminated milk were not likely.

Conclusions in respect of the precise reason of deaths can only be ascertained once the reports from the chemical laboratory had been received by the police, the CM was informed.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2024