Police in Malawi’s eastern district of Mangochi have confirmed the death of three children of same family who died after eating wild yams, locally known as zikhawo.
The deceased are six-year Aisha Juwao and her four-old twin brothers Umali and Yusuf, all from Mikundi village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chowe in the district.
According to Mangochi Police spokesperson, Amina Tepani Daudi, postmortem conducted at St Martins Hospital in the district showed that they died due to food poisoning.
“The mother of the house left the four children alone and went for farming. During lunch time, the children prepared themselves wild yams which they got from the river which is nearby their village.
“When their mother returned home in the evening she found all of them vomiting and were rushed to St Martins Hospital where the three died while receiving treatment, fortunately the smallest among them Hamida Juwao (1yr 7 months-old) survived after responding to the treatment and her condition is fair,” said Daudi.
She then urged the general public, mainly parents not to leave children an attended especially during this farming season.
Daudi said children should at least be left in the hands of someone much older to look after them as children of such tender age need guidance and close supervision.
