Food Poisoning Reportedly Kills 150 in India Town
At least 150 people, many of them children, died of food poisoning in a north Indian town after a community feast for an engagement ceremony, the Press Trust of India said Tuesday.
The news agency said that 63 of the 125 people admitted to hospitals in the town of Basti in Uttar Pradesh state died Monday night. Eighty-seven people had died earlier after the Sunday night dinner in the village of Raipura Jungla near Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh.
The dead included the father and brother of the woman who became engaged.
One government health official said he fears that more people will die.
According to a preliminary investigation, a poisonous phosphorous compound apparently contaminated flour used for making puri, a puffy fried bread, and caused the deaths.
No reports from Lucknow have suggested foul play.
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