Three persons died and several others have fallen ill in Pallavaram, after reportedly drinking contaminated water in Tamil Nadu’s Pallavaram near capital city Chennai on Thursday. The deceased are 88-year-old Varalakshmi, 42-year-old Mohana Rangan and their visiting relative Thiruvedhi. People claim that Varalakshmi died from drinking the contaminated water.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian however attributed her death on age-related ailments.
#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: Three people died, and 20 others fell ill yesterday, in Pallavaram near Chennai after allegedly consuming drinking water contaminated with sewage. The cause of death can be known only after the completion of the autopsy of 3 people. The deceased were… pic.twitter.com/umkSAL8ST8
— ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2024
About thirty people were placed under observation after the incident and the bodies of the deceased were taken for postmortem. Ma Subramanian, confirmed that 34 residents sought medical care at government hospitals. “Fourteen were treated as outpatients and discharged, while 19 remain hospitalized,” the minister stated.
The intial reports tried to rule out any link between the deaths and the water supply. However, subsequent autopsy results of two of the deceased pointed towards severe food poisoning, which may have been caused by water.
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During an inspection of the affected region in Amerden, Minister TM Anbarasan dismissed water-borne contamination and proposed that what people consume is contaminated. Many more people would have gotten sick if the water had been contaminated. Perhaps their ailments came from eating fish,” he stated.
The situation has sparked political concern. Tamil Nadu Opposition leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami criticized the DMK government for negligence. emphasizing water is a necessity, and the quality of the water being supplied should be a priority of the government. “After the cyclone, the government should have prevented mixing of drinking water and sewage pipes. Their oversight has cost lives,” he posted on the social media.
Investigations are ongoing and authoritoies are still waiting for the analysis results of water samples to establish the cause of the incident.
