A village in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir-Champa district was shaken on Monday after a 15-year-old boy died and three younger children were hospitalised with suspected food poisoning. The incident occurred in Ghurkot village, where the group had arrived to visit their maternal uncle along with family members. Officials said the children had eaten watermelon kept in the house on Sunday evening. Soon after, Akhilesh Dhivar (15) began vomiting and developed diarrhoea and breathing trouble. District hospital civil surgeon Dr S Kujur said similar symptoms were later seen in three other children identified as Shri Dhivar (4), Pintu Dhivar (12) and Hitesh Dhivar (13).
As the children's conditions worsened, their families rushed them to the district hospital in separate ambulances. Dr Kujur confirmed that Akhilesh was declared brought dead while the other three were admitted to the emergency ward for treatment.
Contamination suspected, samples sent for testing
According to Dr Kujur, the watermelon had reportedly been cut in the morning and consumed many hours later, which may have led to contamination. He said, "Prima facie, the children may have suffered food poisoning due to consumption of contaminated watermelon." The teenager’s body has been sent for post-mortem and viscera samples have been preserved for forensic analysis. Another watermelon found in the house has been forwarded to the food safety department for lab testing. Authorities stated that the definitive cause of the death and the children’s illness will be known only after laboratory and forensic reports are examined.
Similar incident in Mumbai
In a similar incident last month, four members of a family had lost their lives after eating watermelon in Mumbai. The incident had occurred in Pydhonie area of south Mumbai on April 25. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report had confirmed the presence of zinc phosphide in viscera (liver, kidney, spleen), stomach contents, bile, and abdominal fat samples of the deceased identified as Abdulla Dokadia (44), his wife Nasrin (35) and their daughters Aayesha (16) and Zaineb (13), said Deputy Commissioner of Police Pravin Mundhe.
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