Fifth and last sibling of the four children who had lost their lives  in Toba Tek Singh after drinking poisonous tea breathed her last on Saturday morning. Aqsa was admitted at Allied Hospital, Faisalabad while the kids’ mother Nadia, also admitted to the same hospital, was in critical condition when last reports came in. Both mother and daughter had been shifted to the hospital last night. There is a state of mourning in the entire locality as everybody is in tears following the heartbreaking incident. The father of the deceased children namely Sania, Iqra, Madeeha, Ali Hassan and Aqsa is in prison while their mother’s state is precarious. Giving his opinion on the deaths of five children in Toba Tek Singh following the consumption of poisonous tea, Rai Arif, a doctor at Faisalabad’s Allied Hospital, treating the kids’ mother, Nadia, said on Saturday that it appeared that pesticides kept in a stock of wheat grains might have been mixed in the tea.

He said that Nadia was still very critical, and the doctors were doing their best to save her life. Nadia’s sister, on the other hand, said that Nadia had an altercation with her husband Asghar after which she went to a relative’s home. “And when finally she returned home, she drank the tea put on the table after which she lost her consciousness,” she elaborated. On the other hand, a large number of residents of the area attended the funeral prayers for four children who had died yesterday after consuming poisonous tea. However, none of the officials of the Gojra administration attended the funeral prayers. Three young girls and their little brother died while their mother and another sister were hospitalized in critical condition after taking poisonous tea in Toba Tek Singh on Friday. According to police, the affected family is a resident of Chak No. 520 of Toba Tek Singh. The parents had a tiff over the matrimonial issues of the young girls after which the father mixed poison in the tea.

Their condition deteriorated and they were rushed to a hospital where three sisters and their little brother died. Mother Nadia Bibi was first shifted to the DHQ hospital along with her five children while 17-year-old daughter Sania died on the spot and seven-year-old Ali Hassan breathed his last in the hospital. The other two teenaged girls who died were identified as 18-year-old Madiha and 10-year-old Iqra. 16-year-old Aqsa was said to be critical in DHQ hospital but she and her mother were later rushed to Allied Hospital in Faisalabad. The police further said that husband Asghar and his wife Nadia had an argument the previous day. In her statement, Nadia Bibi alleged that her husband mixed poison in the tea and after taking it the whole family got sick. Nadia Bibi stated that her husband Asghar used to quarrel in the house every day due to the matrimonial issues of their daughters.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan