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A family in Nyamira is mourning the death of a six-year-old boy who is said to have consumed poisonous cassava which also left other family members admitted at the county referral hospital.

Naomi Kerubo and her four children consumed the cassava meal that she got from a neighbour where she had worked as a casual labourer on Sunday.

“I had worked at a nearby farm as a hired casual. After we were through with the day’s work, the neighbour asked me to get some cassava that she had harvested so that I can use it to feed my children,” she said.

At around 6pm in the evening, Naomi and her children started experiencing abdominal pains, diarrhea, vomiting and dizziness.

One of her children, now deceased collapsed, prompting Naomi to call for help from neighbors who rushed her and her children to Ekerenyo Sub-County Hospital for treatment.

At the Ekerenyo Sub-County Hospital, the five received first aid before being referred to the Nyamira County Referral Hospital for specialized treatment, where the six-year-old boy succumbed.

Another child was admitted at the Intensive Care Unit but Naomi and two other children were treated and discharged on Monday.

Nyamira County Referral Hospital acting medical superintendent Angela Ogendi said the mother and her two children are in stable condition and were discharged but one child is still admitted at the Intensive Care Unit and will be discharged to the normal ward once her condition stabilises.