GUJRAT: At least three children died and five others turned critical after eating some poisonous sweets distributed by an unidentified rickshaw driver in Qila Sahib Singh locality in Hafizabad city police precincts on Monday night.

Reports said five critical children were referred to Lahore Children Hospital late on Monday night after their initial treatment at Hafizabad district headquarters hospital.

Hafizabad city police have lodged a first information report of the incident on the complaint of Shahbaz Masih.

According to the FIR, all eight children fell seriously ill after consuming the poisonous sweets and were immediately taken to the DHQ hospital on Monday evening.

Hospital sources said two children were received dead, one died while being given the treatment and the other five were later shifted to the Children Hospital, Lahore, by the Rescue 1122.

The ages of the affected children are said to be from six to 10 years.

Hafizabad city police have registered a case under Sections 302 (murder) and 337-J (administering poisonous substances) of Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the police report, Danish (10), David (7) and Samson (8) died whereas the remaining five others were shifted to Lahore.

The affected children include Aatishna (10), Harry (8), Kailash (10), Shehroz (7) and Shalom (10).

Hafizabad District Police Officer (DPO) Atif Nazir also visited the site and assured the bereaved families of conducting a thorough investigation. The DPO hoped that the culprit(s) would be arrested within 48 hours.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2025