'Mixed with Insecticide': Two kids die drinking tea

Two children died while four family members were hospitalised in Thakurgaon sadar upazila yesterday after their great-grandmother served the entire family tea and took some herself, apparently mistaking pesticide for tea granules.

Sohan, 7, died in his grandparent's residence in Harinda village and his two-and-a-half-year-old sister Sohana in Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital, where their mother Sabina Begum, 25, and great-grandmother Jamila Begum, 60, are still undergoing treatment.

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Sabina's aunt Safura Begum, 34, and Safura's daughter Sadia, 5, were shifted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital as their condition deteriorated.

Sabina and her husband Moinul Hossain of Hariharpur Mathurapur village had gone to visit her parents with the children and the tea was consumed around noon, family members told The Daily Star.

A bottle of pesticide was found in the kitchen and it was granular, very much like tea, they added.

Additional District Magistrate Abu Rafa Mohammad Arif and Medical Officer at the Thakurgaon hospital Md Rokonul Haque confirmed it was pesticide poisoning.