TIRUPPUR: Three children died of suspected food poisoning at a destitute home in Ammapalayam in Thirumuruganpoondi near Tiruppur city on Thursday morning. The condition of 11 other children, who are undergoing treatment at Tiruppur Medical College Hospital, is said to be stable.
Police, revenue, social welfare, and child protection authorities have formed four separate teams to probe the incident.
According to a police source, 15 kids were staying at Vivekananda Sevalayam, a private home for destitute children, for the past 15 years, and were studying at Ammapalayam Government School in the neighbourhood. On Wednesday, one child left for his home for the Vijayadasami festival and the remaining 14 children were served breakfast along with sundal and sweets.
Later, some of them also consumed lunch in the afternoon. In the evening, a few children started feeling feverish and they refused to take dinner. The warden of the institute and workers offered them medicines for fever. On Thursday morning, two of the inmates were found unconscious and others complained of nausea.
Action will be taken based on autopsy & evidence, say cops
Immediately, workers informed the police, and an ambulance was called. All 14 children were admitted to Tiruppur Medical College Hospital. Three (aged 10, 11 and 13) died on Thursday. The Thirumuruganpoondi police have registered a case and food samples have been sent for testing.
District social welfare officer R Ambika and Tiruppur zonal district officer A Amudha inspected the facility on Thursday to check the documents. A health department official said eight children were being treated for dehydration, vomiting, headache and nausea, while three others with high fever were admitted to a separate ward of the hospital.
Blood, urine and stool samples have been collected for testing Tiruppur City Police Commissioner S Prabhakaran said, “The organisation was founded 15 years ago by Senthil Nathan. A case has been registered against the home under Section 174 of the CrPC. We are also questioning the workers. Since the founder is out of the station, we will summon him for investigation.
Based on the postmortem report and forensic evidence, action will be taken. A team headed by deputy commissioner Abhinav Kumar has been formed to probe the issue.” Tiruppur Collector Dr S Vineeth said, “The facility is a licensed one. A team is monitoring the situation.”