The toddler and his teenage relative who died just a day apart after eating fish at the family’s New Year’s Eve dinner in Brazil have been identified.
Manoel da Silva, 17, fell ill on Wednesday and tragically died while being rushed to the Dirceu Arcoverde regional hospital after consuming the fish.
Igno da Silva died in hospital on Thursday after eating the same meal, which was donated to the family in a meal basket by a local organization, police said.
The baby’s mother, Maria da Silva, 43, was one of seven people who became ill after consuming the food. In addition to the deceased, five people were rushed to hospital.
Her condition worsened on Thursday, prompting doctors to place her on a ventilator.
Manoel’s two nieces are the two other sick victims who remained in the hospital on Thursday.
Authorities are awaiting the results of an autopsy report that will determine the cause of death of Igno and Manoel.
“The symptoms (of the patients) were basically the same: heart rate lower than normal, heavy sweating, decreased consciousness,” said Carlos Teixeira, director of the regional hospital Dirceu Arcoverde, as quoted by Brazilian news channel G1.
17-year-old Manoel da Silva died on Wednesday after becoming ill after eating fish during the family’s New Year’s Eve dinner. The fish was part of a meal basket donated to residents
Igno da Silva, 1, died Thursday, a day after he became ill from the fish he ate at his family’s New Year’s Eve dinner. The boy’s death comes after his older siblings died in August and November after receiving poisoned cashew nuts from a neighbor in August
‘We are still conducting tests to determine the origin and material of this poisoning. We are prioritizing children who are in a very serious condition.”
The owner of the house told the Piauí civilian police that his family had consumed a meal donated in a basket by a local organization.
Investigators searched a dumpster outside the housing complex and recovered possible remains.
“The people who delivered the food came forward voluntarily and will be questioned by police this afternoon,” said Abimael Silva, head of the civilian police.
“The rice consumed by the accident victim family was prepared by the family themselves the day before. They did not consume the rice donated by the people, only the manjuba (fish) that was in the bag.”
A civilian police officer is handed the leftovers from the family dinner, which have been dumped in a dumpster
An investigator searches through a garbage bag as part of the investigation into the fish served at a New Year’s Eve family dinner that killed two children and hospitalized seven people
Siblings João da Silva, 7, and Ulisses da Silva, 8, died on August 28 and November 10 respectively after consuming poisoned cashew nuts given to them by a neighbor on August 23.
Antônio Nunes, director of the Piauí Legal Medicine Institute, told TV Clube that police investigators obtained blood and urine samples from Manoel.
Igno’s death comes four months after his two older brothers died after eating poisoned cashew nuts given to them by a neighbor.
João da Silva, 7, and Ulisses da Silva, 8, received a bag of cashew nuts contaminated with terfubos, a chemical used as an insecticide and nematicide, on August 23.
João died on August 28 and Ulisses died on November 11 after spending two months in hospital.
It is unclear whether the little boy’s death after eating the fish is related to the death of his brother in August.
This comes after a mysterious Christmas cake poisoning in the southern Brazilian city of Torres ended with the deaths of three members of the same family.
Zeli dos Anjos, 61, prepared the traditional festive treat ‘Bolo de Natal’ for a family meal on December 23. She remains in hospital on a ventilator, although the other survivors who were hospitalized have all now been discharged.
Zeli was one of six family members, including a ten-year-old child, who ended up in hospital with food poisoning. Her sisters Maida, 58, Neuza, 65, and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana, 43, all died shortly after eating the cake.
Traces of the toxic metal arsenic have reportedly been found in the victims’ bodies, although further tests are underway.
In the aftermath of the Christmas horrors, it emerged that Zeli’s husband had died in September of suspected food poisoning.
Zeli’s family have since revealed that he ate bananas believed to be contaminated with chemicals after a flood in their home town.
Torres-based police chief Marcos Vinicius Veloso said earlier this week about the Christmas tragedy, when it emerged that the poisoning could be linked to the consumption of contaminated food after a power outage: “With the evidence we have collected, we do not know whether the the poisoning was negligent or intentional.
‘So far I have not been able to detect any intentional behavior. However, other evidence that comes to light may contradict what I now think.
“This is an investigation that requires great caution.”