Balasore: In a tragic incident, three children were hospitalised in a critical condition after they reportedly consumed pesticide mistaking it for salt at a village in Odisha’s Balasore district.
Sources said the incident took place at Salabani village of Mahisapata panchayat in Nilgiri block of the district on Thursday when the children, aged between four and eight years, were playing.
Locals said that the children were engaged in a mud-kitchen game using coconut shells. While preparing make-believe meals, they used Thimet, a toxic agricultural insecticide, thinking it was salt. The children mixed the chemical with chopped onions and consumed it, unaware of the danger.
The family members of the three, who were away in the fields harvesting paddy, found the children’s health deteriorating on their return and rushed them to Nilgiri Sub-Divisional Hospital.
