Poisoned Holi
80 children fall unconscious after playing festival of colours
jayalakshmi Kore, a six-year-old girl living with her parents in the central suburb of Ambernath, Thane, complained of stomach ache and fell unconscious after playing with colours on the day of Holi, March 11. She started frothing at the mouth and was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors initially thought she was suffering from weakness. When other children from her neighbourhood, suffering similar symptoms, were brought in, the doctors realized the children must have accidentally ingested toxic colours.
About 80 children of different ages were rushed to hospitals in Thane and Mumbai that day. Dolly Gaur, a doctor who treated eight children admitted in Sion hospital, Mumbai, said the children were suffering from loose motions and had a bluish tongue.