(): Nine young people, eight of them siblings, died and one was hospitalised after reportedly eating poisonous food in Pakistan’s Sindh province, a media report said here on Tuesday. The deceased include five sisters and three brothers in the age group four to 18 years.

As soon as the 10-member family and their guest had dinner on Monday night at Haibat Khan Brohi village near Pir-jo-Goth, Khairpur district, they started falling unconscious, the Dawn newspaper said. Their relatives and neighbours rushed them to Kingri Taluka Hospital where three members of the family died and their bodies were returned to the heirs without autopsy as there were no doctors to perform it. Villagers accused paramedics and nurses of mishandling the victims in the absence of doctors, leading to the deaths of three family members. “Later, others also succumbed to the poison and hence nine siblings had died since last night,” the newspaper said quoting the villagers.

The 10th victim, whose condition is unstable, is under treatment at the hospital, they said.

The newspaper further quoted Gul Baig Brohi, father of the victims, who said that his daughters and sons had died due to the absence of doctors and mishandling at the taluka hospital. He also corroborated that no post-mortem examination was carried out. Area’s SHO Ameer Ali Chang said that police have started an investigation of the incident even as a team of food officials from Sukkur took samples of the leftover food eaten by the victims.

5-year-old girl raped by sanitation worker

Lahore: A five-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a sanitation worker at a prominent hospital here in the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province, police said on Tuesday. The heinous incident took place on the third floor of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Monday.  According to Lahore police, the sanitation worker, who is in his 20s, was committing the heinous crime, the child’s cries caught the attention of nearby patients’ attendants who overpowered him and handed him over to police after giving him a sound thrashing.