CHENNAI: Two children, aged six and one, died at a hospital in Kundrathur on Thursday afternoon after inhaling rodenticide that was strewn in their house by a pest control service on Wednesday evening. Their parents, who had also inhaled the poison, are under treatment at a private hospital in Porur and are expected to recover.
Giridharan (34), a banker and his wife Pavithra (31) lives at an apartment in Kundrathur with their children G Vaishnavi (6) and G Sai Sudharshan (1). According to the police, Giridharan had engaged a pest control service to eliminate a rat infestation in their apartment.
On Wednesday evening, representatives of the pest control company came to the house and placed chemicals in the form of powder and tablets throughout the house.
“On Wednesday night, the four of them went to sleep in one of the bedrooms where the chemicals were placed. They switched on the AC in the room and went to sleep. Around 3am on Thursday, Giridharan woke up feeling uneasy and had trouble breathing. He called one of his friends and asked him to take the family to a hospital,” a police officer said.
The four of them were admitted to a private hospital in Kundrathur. On Thursday afternoon, Vaishnavi and Sai Sudharshan died without responding to treatment. Their bodies were sent to Chromepet Government Hospital for postmortem.
The police suspect that the odour from the rodenticide was not strong enough when the family went to sleep but it built up during the course of the night. By the time police personnel visited the apartment, there was an extremely strong smell from the rat poison, they said.
The police said that two employees of the pest control company have been booked. Further investigation is under way.