Four schoolgirls have died after eating oranges allegedly contaminated with poison, while four other pupils who ate the same fruit are feared to have been exposed to the substance.
The girls, aged between nine and 11, reportedly developed severe stomach pains shortly after eating the oranges. Three of them were taken home, where they later died, while the fourth was rushed to a hospital but could not be saved.
The incident happened on Tuesday after a 12-year-old pupil reportedly shared the oranges with seven other children. The school confirmed that eight pupils had eaten the fruit.
According to a neighbour of one of the victims, Rashid Musa, the oranges were distributed in a green polythene bag.
One of the victims, 11-year-old Mariam Nakitende, was taken home at about 1pm after eating the fruit. Her father, Hassan Magumba, said he found her foaming at the mouth and barely conscious.
He immediately rushed her to a hospital, but doctors pronounced her dead about an hour later. The grieving father also accused the school of failing to provide timely information about his daughter’s condition.
He said the school only contacted the family through phone calls to ask about the girl’s health, adding that they were not given the opportunity to speak with a school administrator.
The deaths occurred in Uganda, where police have begun investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The Sun reported Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, Rachel Kawala, as saying detectives would visit the village where the oranges reportedly came from as part of their investigation.
Kawala also disclosed that postmortem examinations were being conducted to determine what caused the deaths.
The head teacher of the Ta’aliim Primary School and Quran Memorisation Centre has since been detained as part of the police probe.
Police have expressed sympathy with the affected families and promised to provide further information as investigations progress.
Footage shared by Ugandan media showed grieving parents recounting the final moments of their children, with some expressing anger over what they described as the school’s poor handling of the emergency.
The incident has also raised fresh concerns about food safety in Ugandan schools, following previous cases of suspected food contamination that left pupils suffering from stomach pain and vomiting.
