Contaminated confectionery: 14 hospitalised in Vehari after eating mithai

Doctors say condition of three children is critical.

MULTAN: Fourteen people, including six of a family, were hospitalised after eating contaminated mithai in District Vehari on Monday.

Police have arrested five men and sealed their mithai shop.

A police official told The Express Tribune that Muhammad Arshad, a Sadiqabad resident who worked as a labourer in Lahore, had returned to his hometown after a month.

Arshad bought mithai at the Zafar Sweet Shop located near the General Bus Stand. His family members fell unconscious after eating the sweets and were admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital Vehari.

Arshad’s wife Samia, 35, and his sister, 22, were discharged from the hospital, but his children, nine-year-old Yaseen, seven-year-old Musaleen and four-year-old Mustaqeem, are still in a serious condition.

Nasir, another resident, and his children, six-year-old Anum Fatima and four-year-old Umar, had also consumed the mithai and were admitted to the same hospital.

Others being treated at the hospital include Khalid and his son Zain. Waleed, another man present at the emergency ward of the hospital, said he had bought mithai from the same shop and six of his family members fell sick after eating it.

The families demanded that strict action should be taken against the shop owner.

The police and health department officials raided the shop and arrested five men identified as Ahsan, Ashfaq, Azhar, Bahadur Ali and Usman.

The owner of the shop, however, is still on the run. Samples of the mithai have been sent to a laboratory for tests. District Police Officer Umar Saeed has ordered legal proceedings against the culprits.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2017.