ALAPPUZHA: The life and dreams of a 24-year-old girl and her family were destroyed by the suspected ingestion of the juice of the flower and leaf of Arali (oleander) at Pallippad near Haripad. Soorya Surendran, daughter of Surendran, Kondurethu house, Neendoor, Pallippad, collapsed at Nedumbassery airport when she reached the airport to travel to the UK to join a nursing job on Sunday.
She was later admitted to a private hospital in Angamaly and shifted to a medical college hospital in Parumala near Tiruvalla where she died on Monday. According to Haripad station house officer K Abhilashkumar, the postmortem of the girl was carried out in Alappuzha Medical College Hospital.
“In the postmortem report, it was found that the cause of death was the consumption of Arali flower and leaf. A statement given by Soorya to her parents and doctors said that on Sunday morning, she informed her journey to relatives and friends over the phone from her house. While walking along the neighbourhood speaking over mobile phone, she bit a leaf and flower unintentionally. Immediately she realised the mistake and spit it out, but a few drops of the leaf juice went inside. The doctors who carried out the postmortem said that some poisonous content was in her blood, but the parts of the flower or leaf could not be found in the food particles inside the stomach. So the exact poisonous content can be identified only after a detailed postmortem report,” Abhilashkumar said. The relatives also point to such a reason.
She passed SSLC and Plus II with full A plus and secured good score in BSc Nursing. Her father Surendran is a construction labourer. He is suffering from heart ailments and is resting at home. Mother Anitha is running a temporary tea stall at Poyyakkara near Pallippad. It is the only income of the family. The journey to the UK was the dream of the family and Soorya, but everything turned upside down in a matter of hours,” said a neighbour.
Arali flowers highly toxic, says expert
Dr Benil Kottakkal, who has conducted studies on the toxicity of arali flower, said the alkaloids present in the flower come in the category of cardiac glycosides. “These alkaloids present in Nerium Oleander act directly on the heart. The presence of alkaloids is very high in the latex found inside the stalk,” he said. It is suspected that the new varieties of arali plants developed to bear more flowers contain more of these toxins. “However, that has not yet been quantified scientifically,” he added. In the opinion of Joseph Job, vice-principal and associate professor, Department of Botany, SB College Changanassery, the toxicity of arali plant varies according to the ingested part, age and health condition of the person who consumes it. “All the plants in apocynaceae family have these cardiac stimulatory alkaloids,” he said.