13 more villagers return home from isolation centre in Rajouri

RAJOURI: Thirteen more people, who were lodged in an isolation centre owing to mysterious deaths in their remote village, returned home in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, officials said.

According to officials, with the return of these 13 people, all the 395 people lodged in three different isolation centres in Rajouri town have returned home in the past week after spending more than three weeks there.

While around 350 members of 17 families were allowed to return on February 13, the second batch of 32 villagers returned home on February 15, they said.

Seventeen members of three families including 13 children died under mysterious circumstances after falling sick in remote Badhaal village of Kotranka Sub-division between December 7 and January 19.

The last of 13 individuals from Badaal, who were under quarantine at the Government Medical College (GMC) Rajouri, were discharged and sent back home on Wednesday.

Though the exact cause of the death remains unidentified so far, despite authorities constituting a special investigation team of police and also roping in experts from primer health institutions of the country, some neurotoxin in the food chain is suspected as the main cause for the deaths.

The GMC Rajouri has been at the forefront of the response efforts, with a team of medical professionals working tirelessly to contain the situation.