Pesticide-sprayed Rice Packets In House Kill 3 Minor Siblings In Odisha   

Berhampur: Three minor sisters lost their lives reportedly after sniffing pesticide in Turibudi village under Digapahandi block of Ganjam district.

As per reports, family members had sprinkled pesticide on rice kept inside a room where an elderly member and the girls were sleeping on the night of December 25. The next morning, all of them started vomiting and felt unconscious.

Later, the elderly woman and the sisters-6-year-old Subhalaxmi Reddy, 7-year-old Priti Reddy and their elder sister Barsha Reddy were admitted to hospital in critical condition. Subsequently, the minor girls died in the hospital while undergoing treatment.

"They were coughing and vomiting when I saw them in the morning. Immediately we admitted them to hospital but they died one by one," said a relative of the deceased.

The deceased were residents of Matiaborei village and were staying at their grandparents' house for studies in Turibudi.

Speaking about the incident, Dr Kiran Patnaik, Forensic Medicine & Toxicology Department of MKCG Hospital said, "From the post-mortem report, it seems they inhaled a gaseous poison, but we are yet to confirm what the substance exactly was."