Mumbai: Nine children aged 4 to 6 who had ingested castor seeds were rushed to Kandivli’s Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal General Hospital Tuesday after they began to vomit and complained of dizziness and abdominal pain. Five of them required oxygen support upon arrival around 3pm but were stabilised and taken off support by 8:30pm.
At the time of going to press, there was no clarity on why they ingested the seeds.
“Castor seeds can cause poisoning as they contain ricin. All the children presented with vomiting, abdominal pain, hypotension and symptoms of gastrointestinal poisoning,” a senior doctor at the hospital said.
The hospital stated the incident occurred around 11am but the children were brought in after symptoms appeared. The five who needed oxygen support underwent a “stomach wash”, a procedure used to flush out toxic substances with water or saline by inserting a tube through the mouth. “It happened in the Damu Nagar slums of Kandivli surrounded by a forest. The children were playing on a road when they found the seeds. We are unsure how many each of them ingested, but they are all stable now and will be kept under observation for a night,” the doctor added.
— Eshan Kalyanikar
