VISAKHAPATNAM: Lack of awareness and superstitious beliefs have costed a tribal family the lives of their three sons aged about six, eight and 10 years in a span of just two days. The three brothers belonged to Baliaguda village of Dumbriguda mandal, in Visakhapatnam Agency and have reportedly died due to food poisoning. The police are yet to confirm the reason for their deaths.
According to the police, the tribal family resides in the interior villages of the Agency and have superstitious beliefs that children fall ill because of black magic. Sub Inspector of Dumbriguda mandal Y Ammanna Rao said that the family members believed that their sons were taken ill as someone had performed black magic on them.
The three brothers reportedly suffered from severe vomiting and diarrhoea for a couple of days, but the parents, ignorant of medical treatment, neglected taking their children to a hospital.
On Friday, their second child, an eight-year-old boy, died and the parents had gone to perform his last rites and returned home only to find that their elder son, 10-year-old, dead.
“The parents, after forced by other family members in the tribe, rushed their third son, the six-year-old, to Araku Valley Hospital, on Friday late night. The boy was shifted to KGH for better treatment where he breathed last, on Saturday,” said SI Ammanna Rao.
The police informed that after the third kid was brought to Araku Valley Hospital, they reached the hospital to enquire. Only then did the whole issue come to light. The third son’s body is at KGH and a postmortem examination will be conducted. The Dumbriguda police have registered a case under section 174 (death cause unknown). Police teams have been formed to investigate the case.