17 hospitalised after eating poisonous mushrooms

KARACHI:

The condition of 17 people in a family deteriorated after eating meal having poisonous mushrooms in the Quaidabad area.

The prolonged monsoon spell in the city all through the month of July has created favourable environment for the growth of mushrooms. However, many of these tasty delicacies are poisonous, while some can even cause instant death.

Rescue service volunteers said that responding to a distress call they shifted 17 people of a family residing in a house located in the Gulshan Bunair area of Quaidabad to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in ambulances.

According to Quaidabad police station SHO Malik Ashraf, the family cooked and ate mushrooms they had plucked from a greenbelt along a street after the rains.

As soon as they ate the mushrooms, their condition deteriorated with cramps in the stomach and vomiting.

The family's neighbours, alerted by the commotion, called in ambulance service and shifted them to JPMC, where doctors provided them with medical aid.

He said that all the persons belonged to the same family.

Ali Akbar, the head of the family, and one of his sons, were not at home and thus had not eaten the food and stayed safe.