Tainted cassava kills one-year-old girl

A one-year-old girl died yesterday and seven other children were hospitalised, along with a 26-year-old woman, after consuming cassava that was likely tainted with pesticides in Oddar Meanchey province. Anlong Veng district deputy police chief Lok Theavy said that 36-year-old Mark Yap collected the cassava near her home and invited her neighbours to join her to eat it for dinner on Sunday night.

Mr Theavy said unbeknownst to Ms Yap, the cassava had been sprayed by a local farmer with pesticides as he readied his fields for his next crop. “There were nine victims in total and a one-year-old girl died, while the other eight were saved,” he said. “Eleven people ate the cassava, but only nine were poisoned. Their symptoms were diarrhoea and vomiting.” “When the one-year-old became sick, her parents did not take her to hospital quickly enough and her condition became worse and worse before she died at home,” he added.

The seven other poisoned children, aged from 10-months to 16-years-old, are recovering in hospital along with the adult woman, he said. “According to people living in the village, the cassava had been watered with pesticides because it regrows after the first harvest,” Mr Theavy said.

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