Pesticide kills two kids; grandpa dies of heart attack Marlon Ramos Inquirer
November 14, 2006
TWO GIRLS aged 2 and 4 died in a hospital in Paete town, Laguna after accidentally ingesting pesticide at breakfast, and their grandfather succumbed to a heart attack hours later after learning of what had happened to the youngsters, an official said Tuesday.
Dr. Alsaneo Lagos, Laguna provincial health officer, said Danica Suarez, 4, and her sister Daniela, 2, started vomiting and complained of headaches and stomach pains a few hours after taking breakfast at their grandparents’ home in Barangay 4, Paete, where they were staying temporarily, at around 8:30 a.m. last Saturday.
The girls’ grandfather, Jose Tranquilino, 68, suffered a heart attack and died after the girls were taken to a hospital, Lagos said.
“The victim’s relatives rushed them to the nearby General Cailles Hospital because they continued vomiting,” Lagos told the Inquirer in a mobile phone interview. He said Danica died a few hours after while Daniela died the following day.
Lagos said the children had kanduli, a kind of catfish, for breakfast, but it was not immediately clear if they ate alone or were supervised by an adult.
He said there was initial speculation that the girls could have died of toxins from the freshwater fish.
That changed, however, “when our investigating team learned that the victims’ grandmother saw an empty bottle of pesticide near their plates,” he said. “Maybe the children inadvertently put the pesticide in their food.”
Lagos said an autopsy established that the girls died of pesticide poisoning. The authorities have not been able to identify the type of pesticide as the girls’ grandmother had already disposed of the bottle, he added.
