Srinagar: A team constituted by the Union home ministry arrived in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday (January 20) to investigate the deaths of 17 villagers, including 12 children, since December 7 last year.
The death toll climbed to 17 on Sunday with a 15-year-old girl passing away at a hospital in Jammu after battling a “mysterious illness” for several days which has been linked by officials to neurotoxin exposure.
Officials said that the deceased has been identified as Yasmeen Kounsar, a resident of Badhal village. She passed away at Government Medical College in Rajouri on Sunday where she was admitted earlier this month in an unconscious state.
Her father, Mohammad Aslam, mother and five other siblings have already died since December 7 when dozens of villagers were hospitalised with complaints of dizziness, loss of consciousness, fever and vomiting among others.
J&K’s health minister Sakina Itoo said that five deaths were reported on December 7 following which a health department team collected tissue samples of the deceased while blood, stool, swab and urine samples were collected from around 3500 locals.
A team from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also collected samples of blood, swabs and urine from the villagers.
“When few more patients died in the second episode of deaths, central teams were asked to conduct more tests,” Itoo, a senior National Conference leader, said.
In all, 17 affected villagers died in five episodes on December 7, 12, 23, January 12 and 19.
Also read: Less Than a Third of People Suffering from Diabetes Get Treatment in India, World’s Diabetes Capital
The home ministry team comprising members of the Union health and agriculture ministries arrived in J&K on Sunday to probe the deaths which have triggered a wave of fear and anxiety among the poor tribal people who live in Badhal and its adjoining areas.
J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said on Sunday that the central team would “ascertain the facts” in the case. “The expert team has arrived and efforts are on to ascertain the cause of the Budhal deaths. The J&K health department conducted an investigation but correct facts didn’t come to fore,” he said, adding the police have also set up a team to probe the incident “from all angles”.
An official in J&K health department said that the deaths were not caused due to any disease. He said that the presence of neurotoxins in samples collected from the deceased was first confirmed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Since the illness gripped the village of Budhal, the J&K government’s health department has set up a camp where samples of food, water and other materials are being examined for bacterial, viral and other possible microbial contaminants.
An official said that additional testing has been carried out by the country’s premier institutes including ICMR, National Institute of Virology, National Centre for Disease Control, CSIR, DRDO and PGIMER Chandigarh, but no definite cause for the deaths has been identified so far.
“We are awaiting the final reports,” the official said.
Dr A.S. Bhatia, principal of Government Medical College (GMC) Rajouri where most of the deaths took place said that neurotoxins have been identified as the primary cause of deaths. “These toxins impair brain function which results in brain swelling that was consistent with the tests conducted on all the deceased patients,” he said.
While the officials claimed that the deceased, who belonged to three families of Badhal village, died due to exposure to neurotoxins, they have not been able to trace its source.
Among the deceased are 12 children and a pregnant woman while at least 28 more persons are battling for their lives in different hospitals of the Union Territory.
Sources said that there was a congregational meal at the residence of one of the victims days before the tragedy started to unfold, “There is a possibility that the victims may have consumed some toxic substance at the function. We are investigating this angle also,” a source in the health department said.
Also read: 67 Drugs Found Substandard in September; 6 Manufacturers Also Appeared in List For August
The spate of deaths since December 7 have puzzled both J&K’s health department officials as well as the central government teams.
A 11-member special investigations team (SIT) comprising experts from forensic medicine, microbiology, paediatrics and pathology headed by superintendent of J&K police Wajahat Hussan was announced on Sunday to investigate the matter.
The health department official quoted above said that the patients who are not critically ill and other residents of Budhal are being questioned to ascertain the facts of the case.
He said that three houses belonging to the affected families have been seized while a pond fed by a rivulet, which catered to the water needs of locals in Badhal village, was also shut down amid reports that its water was contaminated with pesticides.
