Amid reports of people falling ill after consuming watermelon, a 15-year old boy from Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir-Champa district, died while three other children fell ill after consuming the fruit, officials said on Monday.
The deceased child has been identified as Akhilesh Dhivar (15) of Podi Dalha village and the other affected children are Shri Dhivar (4) of Avarid village, Pintu Dhivar (12) of Khatola and Hitesh Dhivar (13) of Kotgarh.
The children, together with relatives, went to the maternal uncle’s house in Ghurkot village, officials added.
The children ate cut watermelon from the house on Sunday evening and began to suffer from vomiting, diarrhoea and breathing difficulties a few hours later, as per the preliminary information, said district hospital civil surgeon Dr S Kujur.
Akhilesh was found dead on arrival at the district hospital in ambulances that arrived at various times on Monday, the three other children were admitted to the emergency ward, he added.
The watermelon was reportedly cut early in the morning and eaten several hours later which made it possible that it could have been contaminated, Dr Kujur said.
To date, the children might have developed food poisoning after eating something contaminated with watermelon; the teenager’s body will go for post-mortem and samples of viscera have been preserved for forensic examination. Another watermelon that was stored at the house was taken to the food safety department for laboratory testing, Kujur said.
The cause of death and illness was not immediately known, officials said, but would be determined once the results of the forensic investigation and the food safety testing are received.