Jammu: Teenager dies, Rajouri illness toll reaches 16

Centre’s inter-ministerial team reaches Rajouri to look into mysterious deaths; administration seals a spring in Badhaal village after its water tests positive for some pesticides or insecticides

Battling for life since January 12, a 15-year-old girl of Badhaal village in Rajouri district died due to mysterious illness at the SMGS Hospital here on Sunday evening, taking the toll to 16 since December 7 last year. Deceased Yasmeen Akhter Kouser is the sixth child of Mohammad Aslam of Badhaal village to have lost her life. With this, Aslam has lost all of his children to the mysterious illness. Since December, all of his kids — Mohammad Maroof, 8, Nabeena Akhter, 5, Zahoor Ahmed 14, Safeena Kouser, 12, Zabeena Kouser, 10, along with Kouser — have lost their lives.

Army personnel in Badhaal village of Rajouri district on Sunday. (ANI)

“Despite best possible efforts by the doctors, Yasmeen Akhter Kouser died around 6.10 pm on Sunday,” said a senior health official.

Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial team deputed by Union home minister Amit Shah to ascertain what triggered deaths reached Rajouri on Sunday evening. “The team was briefed by the senior health and police officials about deaths and their findings so far. The team will visit Badhaal village on Monday for ground assessment,” said a senior police official.

On Saturday, Shah had ordered constitution of an inter-ministerial team led by the ministry of home affairs to visit the affected village.

The team comprises experts from the ministries of health and family welfare, agriculture, chemicals and fertilisers, and water resources. It will also be assisted by experts from animal husbandry, food safety and forensic science labs. The team would work on providing immediate relief as well as taking precautionary measures to prevent such incidents in future.

Experts from some of the most reputed institutions of the country have been arranged to manage the situation and understand the causative factors of deaths.

With no breakthrough so far in mysterious illness that has caused deaths of 16 people since December 7 last year, fear constantly lurks in Badhaal village of Rajouri district. Villagers have urged the administration to probe the root cause of deaths and bring an end to the uncertainty and fear. Among the dead are 13 children from three families related to each other.

While tests have categorically ruled out any viral or bacterial infections, subsequent studies have found some neurotoxins in the plasma samples of dead.

The cause of the illness remains unidentified, despite extensive efforts by medical experts and organisations such as PGIMER in Chandigarh, the National Institute of Virology and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Amid the ongoing probe into the mysterious deaths, authorities have sealed a spring in the affected area after its water tested positive for “some pesticides or insecticides”.

Additional deputy commissioner (Kotranka subdivision) Dil Mir ordered the spring to be sealed and round-the-clock deployment of two to three security personnel at the water source in the Badhaal village of Rajouri district