Deadly Mushrooms Killed Three Children in Chin State

29 June 2012: Three children under the age of 8 died and four adults were taken to a Hakha hospital as a result of ingestion of poisonous mushrooms in Ruan village of Hakha Township, Chin State, Burma.

Tial Thawng, aged 4, and Chan Ceu Tha, 6, succumbed to the effects of toxic mushrooms last week after eating at breakfast on 17 June 2012 while their sister Sung Zi, 8, lost her life later at the hospital in Hakha.

The three siblings were among a group of seven people who ate the poisonous mushrooms, mistaken for an edible one known as dawng hmug, as a curry for the Sunday breakfast.

Speaking to Chinland Guardian yesterday, Pu Tat Myint, Chairman of Ruan Fellowship, said the four Chin victims have been discharged from hospital.

Pu Hniang Cem, daughter Van Dawt Thluai, Pu Than Sawk and wife Pi Hnem Thai are still receiving minor treatments at the house of Pu Tat Myint in Hakha.

“It was on 16 June 2012 that Pu Than Sawk got the mushrooms from the nearby field. They had it on the next day, Sunday. And around 10pm, the children started having stomach pains, diarrhoea and vomiting,” Pu Tat Myint said.

The poisonous mushrooms, aka rul papar, have flowers in the month of June and mushroom poisoning used to happen in the area in the past, according to Pu Tat Myint.

Reporting by Thawng Zel Thang
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