News / National
Toddler in mysterious death
17 Oct 2015 at 10:22hrs | Views
A CHIKANGA baby died in mysterious circumstances on Wednesday afternoon after he allegedly consumed porridge heavily laden with salt, in a shocking incident that left many weak kneeled in Mutare's sprawling high-density suburb.
Although no official medical explanation was available at the time of going to print, two-year-old Ano succumbed to liver failure moments after eating the salty porridge.
His mother immediately rushed him to Chikanga Clinic after sensing danger as the minor started excreting green stool and vomited incessantly.
Efforts by The Manica Post to contact the child's parents were fruitless as they had gone to hospital for further treatment.
A neighbour, who refused to be named alleged that the toddler ate porridge heavily laden with salt that had been prepared by his mother.
"From what I heard, the boy poured too much salt into the Cerevita cereal that his mother had prepared and while his mother had gone outside to do some chores, he ate a few mouthfuls.
"When she got back inside, she noticed that he was weak and so she called out to us for help. The doctor confirmed that his liver was affected by the excess salt leading to his death," said the neighbour.
Another neighbour, identified as Mai Tawanda said no foul play was suspected for the toddler had wounds inside his mouth, which are consistent with burns caused by salt-induced inflammation.
As The Manica Post tried to dig deeper into the matter at the boy's funeral yesterday (Thursday) morning irate mourners became violent and chased away reporters.
They manhandled one of the reporters, took away her smart phone she was using to take pictures at the funeral and deleted all the pictures.
The reporter's notebook was also torn apart.
The deceased's mother became violent and threatened to attack the news crew.
She was restrained by her husband but shouted obscenities saying her baby's funeral was not newsworthy.
Acting Manicaland police provincial spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Luxon Chananda said that the matter is yet to be reported to police.
Although no official medical explanation was available at the time of going to print, two-year-old Ano succumbed to liver failure moments after eating the salty porridge.
His mother immediately rushed him to Chikanga Clinic after sensing danger as the minor started excreting green stool and vomited incessantly.
Efforts by The Manica Post to contact the child's parents were fruitless as they had gone to hospital for further treatment.
A neighbour, who refused to be named alleged that the toddler ate porridge heavily laden with salt that had been prepared by his mother.
"From what I heard, the boy poured too much salt into the Cerevita cereal that his mother had prepared and while his mother had gone outside to do some chores, he ate a few mouthfuls.
"When she got back inside, she noticed that he was weak and so she called out to us for help. The doctor confirmed that his liver was affected by the excess salt leading to his death," said the neighbour.
As The Manica Post tried to dig deeper into the matter at the boy's funeral yesterday (Thursday) morning irate mourners became violent and chased away reporters.
They manhandled one of the reporters, took away her smart phone she was using to take pictures at the funeral and deleted all the pictures.
The reporter's notebook was also torn apart.
The deceased's mother became violent and threatened to attack the news crew.
She was restrained by her husband but shouted obscenities saying her baby's funeral was not newsworthy.
Acting Manicaland police provincial spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Luxon Chananda said that the matter is yet to be reported to police.
Source - manicapost
