BHOPAL: Two minor girls, aged four years and one-and-a-half months were killed, while three other children were hospitalised in critical condition in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district, with preliminary investigations pointing to toxic fumes from pesticides stored with wheat in a poorly ventilated room.
Two young sisters, Pooja from Shajapur district and Reena from Kayatha village of Ujjain district, recently arrived at their father Lalchand Prajapat’s house in the Triveni Hills area on Indore Road of Ujjain district for summer holidays. Three other grandchildren, including a boy and two girls, have been hospitalised and are currently battling for life.
Back on April 13 night, five children, including Pooja’s daughters Jenisha (5) and one and half months old Trisha, Reena’s three and half months old Rehan and four years old Annu aka Anika, along with their maternal uncle’s daughter Yeshu (3) slept in a room which didn’t have proper ventilation window.
When the entire extended family woke up on the morning of April 14, the health of all five children started to deteriorate, with a month-and-a-half-old Trisha foaming from the mouth. All five children were rushed to a nearby private hospital. But a few hours later, the youngest among the five kids, Trisha died.
Subsequently, four-year-old Annu aka Anika’s condition also started worsening, despite sustained efforts of doctors, she died on April 15.
While Jenisha, Rehan and Yeshu are still hospitalised, owing to critical condition Jenisha has been referred to Indore for life-saving treatment.
Primary probe suggests that unsafe placing of pesticide in containers of four quintals wheat in the same room where the children were sleeping could have resulted in emission of some poisonous gas. With the concerned room being without adequate ventilation, it seems the poisonous gas choked two children to death and deteriorated the health of three others.
According to Ujjain’s Nanakheda police station in-charge Narendra Yadav, “Initial police probe suggested that the room where the children were sleeping also had about four quintals of wheat stored in containers. Chemicals/pesticide (celphos pouches) had been added to preserve the wheat. Toxic gas spread in the room throughout the night, affecting all five children. Anything more can only be said in the case following results of detailed forensic analysis of samples from the spot and the detailed autopsy report of the two children.”
Dr Jitendra Sharma who is treating two children at the hospital, explained that the chemical (Paras) used in wheat actually releases gas, and if there is no ventilation in the house, it can cause suffocation and breathing problems, affecting the respiratory system. Due to the young age of the children, death is also possible in such cases. The exact cause of death will be known after the postmortem report. He advised using natural methods like neem leaves to protect wheat.
The children’s grandmother kept blaming herself for keeping pesticides in the wheat. She said that about a week ago she had bought medicine to store in wheat from a fertiliser shop in Daulatganj, as she does every year. This time too, she added the chemical to four quintals of wheat stored at home.