Bangla Press Desk: Two siblings have died in the capital’s Hatirjheel area, with police suspecting food poisoning as the preliminary cause of death.
The incident took place in the Wireless Mor area under Hatirjheel Police Station.
The deceased are Afrida Chowdhury, 10, and her younger brother Ilhas Chowdhury, aged 14 months. Their parents also fell ill but recovered after receiving primary treatment.
Police recovered the bodies from an ambulance parked in front of the family’s residence on Saturday night and sent them to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) morgue for autopsy. After post-mortem examinations, the bodies were handed over to family members on Sunday morning.
According to police and family sources, Afrida and Ilhas are children of Mosle Uddin from Mughaltuli village in Cumilla Sadar upazila. Afrida was a student of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College.
Hatirjheel Police Station sub-inspector Md Suman Mia said the children reportedly fell ill after eating food late Friday night. “Afrida started vomiting around 2:30am and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died on Saturday morning,” he said.
He added that Ilhas began vomiting on Saturday morning and was admitted to Moghbazar Community Hospital, where he died around 1:30pm the same day.
After initial funeral preparations, including washing and shrouding the bodies, police intervened and sent the remains to DMCH for autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.
“Whether it was food poisoning or something else will be confirmed after receiving the post-mortem report,” the police officer said.
Meanwhile, the children’s uncle, Touhid Alam Chowdhury, said the family was uncertain about the source of the suspected poisoning. He noted that the family had eaten at a restaurant outside their home on December 16 to celebrate Afrida’s birthday.
“Four days later, they fell sick. We are not sure whether it was from that meal or something else,” he said, adding that clarity would come only after the autopsy report.
Police said further investigation is underway.
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