Girl dies, siblings hospitalised after they mistook a pesticide for juice

A map of Ndhiwa, Homa Bay County, where a girl died and her siblings were admitted in hospital on December 31, 2017 after drinking a pesticide, thinking it was juice. GRAPHIC | GOOGLE MAP

What you need to know:

  • The children, aged between one and three years, found a juice bottle that contained a pesticide and drank its contents.
  • They were rushed to hospital. The older child died, while her siblings are recovering in hospital.

A girl died on Sunday while her two siblings are receiving treatment at a local hospital in Homa Bay after they consumed a poisonous substance at Rarage Village in Ndhiwa.

The two survivors are admitted at Samaria Medical Centre in Rodi Kopany Trading Centre.

PESTICIDE

The siblings, aged between one and three years, drank a pesticide stored in a juice bottle that was meant for killing termites.

They were rushed to the hospital after their stomachs started swelling.

The shocked children's parents were inconsolable and could not speak to journalists.

"They thought that the poison, which was in a juice bottle, was meant for them during this festivity season," said Dr Joseph Odhiambo who heads the hospital.

He added that the three children were taken to the facility in critical condition.

COMPLICATION

But the three-year-old girl died after one of her parents gave her milk against doctors’ advice, said Dr Odhiambo.

Speaking to the Nation on the phone, he said: "One of the children's parents sneaked into the ward where their ailing daughter was and gave her a packet of milk against our instructions."

Dr Odhiambo added that the death resulted after the feeding because they had drained all the poison from her body and the milk caused a lot of reactions.

He explained that the remaining two children are recuperating at the hospital in stable condition and all the poison was drained from their bodies.

CAUTION

The body was taken to Homa Bay County Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary.

Homa Bay County Police Commander Marius Tum confirmed the incident and urged parents to be cautious when storing harmful drugs and poisonous substances.

"Parents should be careful on where they keep drugs and other poisonous substances to avert such incidences," said Mr Tum.