While teams of experts returned to Jammu after visiting the Badhaal village of the Kotranka tehsil of the Rajouri district, health authorities are yet to ascertain the reasons for the death of eight persons including seven children in this mountainous belt.
Expert teams from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI), Chandigarh, and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, visited the Badhaal village and collected samples from this village and adjoining localities.
Reports said that these teams of experts visited the Government Medical College Rajouri, where some victims were admitted. Experts also visited Kotranka hospital apart from collecting samples in the Badhaal village and adjoining localities. The teams of experts collected samples from nearly 100 people.
A Biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) mobile laboratory has been dispatched to Rajouri to expedite testing and identify the illness.
In response to the incident, a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) mobile laboratory has been sent to Rajouri. Additionally, a central team of experts has been constituted to assist the Union Territory administration in investigating the cases and fatalities, reports said.
Sources said that experts from institutes will submit their reports to the Principal Government Medical College Jammu and higher-ups of the Health Department for further course of action.
Eight mysterious deaths reported in Rajouri village
During the last two weeks, as many as eight mysterious deaths were reported from Kotranka tehsil of the Rajouri district.
A seven-year-old girl died and her two elder brothers fell sick due to a suspected case of food poisoning in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on December 8.
The officials said three siblings were brought to Kotranka civil hospital from Badhal village of Khawas, where the seven-year-old Nazia Kousar breathed her last, while her elder brothers, Ishtiaq (9) and Ashfaq (11), were referred to Government Medical College (GMC) hospital for specialized treatment. However, Ishtiaq also died during treatment at the GMC hospital.
Ruksar (12), who along with her mother Shamim Akhter was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jammu also died after three days.
Ruksar’s father, Fazal Hussain, and three siblings – Rabia Kouser (15), Farmana Kouser (12), and Rafter Ahmad (four)—had died on December 8.
Eleven-year-old Ashfaq Ahmed, son of Mohammad Rafiq, passed away after being hospitalized at the Government Medical College (GMC) in Jammu for six days.
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