Four members of a family, a 40-year-old husband, his 35-year-old wife, and their two daughters aged 16 and 13, have died due to suspected food poisoning in Mumbai’s Pydhonie area, police said on Monday. 

On Saturday night, a 13-year-old Zainab had a biryani feast with her elder sister, parents, and other relatives. A little after midnight, watermelon was served as a dessert. 

Severe symptoms followed the next morning. Treatment started, but nothing worked. Four of them died one after one: a tragedy played out over the next 12 hours and left Mumbai in shock.

The four deaths were due to suspected food poisoning, said police.

A Biryani Feast

Abdullah Abdul Kadar, a 40-year-old local trader who ran a mobile accessories shop, his wife Nasreen, 35, and the children, Zainab, 13, and Ayesha, 16, had gathered for dinner with five other relatives around 10:30 pm on Saturday. Biryani was on the menu. After the feast, they returned to their home in Pydhonie.

There were no complaints regarding health till that time. Back home, the family had watermelon around 1 am. Around 5 am, they started feeling unwell. There was vomiting and loose motion. Initially, a local doctor attended to them, but as their condition worsened, they were rushed to JJ Hospital.

Zainab, the younger daughter, died around 10:15 am. Her mother, Nasreen, 35, and elder sister Aisha, 16, also failed to respond to the treatment and died. Her father, 40, died around 10:30 pm.

Dr Ziad Qureshi, who had initially examined the family, said they were in a very bad state and appeared exhausted. “They had severe vomiting and diarrhoea. When I rushed them to the hospital, they informed me that they had eaten watermelon,” he said.

Suspicious Deaths

Officials said a case of accidental death has been registered, and post-mortem examinations have been conducted.

While food poisoning is being suspected behind the suspicious deaths of the four family members within a gap of 12 hours, the police have recorded a half-eaten piece of watermelon and sent it for laboratory testing. “Samples collected from the bodies during the post-mortem have been collected for further investigation,” said Pravin Munde, Deputy Commissioner of Police at Mumbai police.

The forensics and food departments have also been pulled together for the investigation. The state Food and Drug Administration is probing whether the watermelon they consumed had any external toxic substance or adulterant, while the forensics team will correlate the causes of death based on food samples and viscera reports.

The microbiology department at JJ hospital is testing for the presence of infections or bacteria, while the tissues will be examined through histopathology tests. The final opinion on the cause of death is reserved pending the histopathology report. (NDTV)

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