8 children, 4 women fall sick consuming stale sweets in East Godavari

East Godavari: Twelve people, including eight children and four women, fell ill after consuming sweets at Pulusu Mamidi village under VR Puram mandal in East Godavari district. The victims ate the sweets on Friday night and fell sick on Saturday.

The condition of one of the children, K. Samantha, deteriorated and she was rushed to a hospital in neighbouring Bhadrachalam, Telangana. Doctors said that she is out of danger now.

The remaining 11 people were admitted to the primary health centre at Rekhapalle in East Godavari district.

The villagers said that one Dubaiah visited his relative's house at Pulusu Mamidi in VR Puram mandal. On the way, he bought 'gavvalu' (a local variety of sweet made with all-purpose flour and sugar) from Rekhapalle village and gave them to his kin.

The family distributed the sweets to their near and dear and 12 of them complained of vomiting and nausea. They were immediately shifted to the local PHC and as the condition of Samantha deteriorated, she was shifted to Bhadrachalam.

Health minister Alla Nani directed the East Godavari district collector Muralidhar Reddy to take action on the owner of the shop who sold the stale sweets. He also directed the food inspector to conduct inspections at all the provision and sweet shops in the village.

The VR Puram police took the owner of the sweet shop, T. Ramachandra Rao, into custody for interrogation. Rao said that he bought the sweets from another trader. Now, the police are trying to track the trader who supplied sweets to Ramachandra Rao.