A 3-year-old boy has died while his four siblings have been hospitalised at Mdeka in Blantyre after consuming cooked cassava suspected to have been poisoned.
Chileka Police Station Public Relations Officer Jonathan Phillipo has identified the deceased as Bright Magombo who together with his four siblings met their fate on Saturday, June 22 2024.
Phillipo said on the day, the mother of the five children, Bernadetta Magombo, left home for other businesses and while she was away, her 14-year-old daughter, cooked for breakfast some cassava which she uprooted from their garden.
After eating the cooked cassava, all five children started complaining about stomach pains and were relentlessly vomiting. When the mother returned home at around 4 pm, she gave them some first aid treatment but to no avail.
Magombo later rushed the children to a nearby private clinic where her son was pronounced dead upon arrival, while the other four children were transferred to Mdeka Health Centre where they were admitted.
According to the publicist, an investigation on the matter awaits post-mortem results from the Health Center. However, he said some reports are indicating that the girl left the cassava pot unattended at some point when she was.
The victims are from Mtambalika village in the area of Traditional Authority Chigalu in Blantyre District.
