Girl dead, 27 others ill from eating chaat

Shahjahanpur, Jan 25: A 14-year-old girl died and some 27 people, most of them children, were taken ill after eating chaat sold by a vendor selling snacks on a handcart at Khanousa village near Gola city in Lakhimpur Kheri district on Monday evening. The condition of eight of the children was said to be serious. They were taken to the district hospital in Lakhimpur city. The others were admitted to the community health centre in Gola city.

Though no FIR was registered, the girl's body was sent for post-mortem on Tuesday. Samples of the chaat were sent for tests, police said.

The incident happened under Hyderabad police station. SHO Pradeep Mishra said, "Around 27 people fell ill after eating snacks on Monday evening. Later, a girl died. We have sent the body for a post-mortem to confirm the reason for he death while the other victims of food poisoning are now out of danger. Further action against the snack-seller will be taken on the basis of the reports. "

All the people who had the chaat had complained of stomach ache and vomiting. By midnight, they were admitted to a nearby hospital.

According to reports, Poonam, 14, was taken to the nearest health centre where she was discharged after being given treatment. When she reached home, her condition worsened and she died before any further medical aid could be provided to her. By that time, many other children were also rushed to the hospital .

On Tuesday morning, chief medical officer Javed Ahmad sent a team of experts to the village to ensure that timely treatment is given to those affected. The medical experts suspect those ill were suffering from food poisoning and distributed medicines to all those who had the chaat. A medical camp has been set up at the village for the next two days.

Kishori Lal, Poonam's father, was not sure if his daughter died of food poisoning. He claimed that even those who did not eat the chaat had taken ill. There are serious hygiene issues at the village and local administration has ignored them, he added.

Station officer of Hyderabad police station Pradeep Mishra, tehsildar Mahendra Pal, CMO Javed Ahmad, in charge of Gola community health centre Amit Vajpai and a team of doctors visited the village after receiving news of several people falling ill.