Rajouri/Jammu, Feb 19: Thirteen additional individuals, previously held at an isolation center due to the unexplained fatalities in their secluded village, returned to their homes in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, according to officials.
With the arrival of these 13 individuals, all 395 individuals previously isolated in three distinct centers in Rajouri have returned home after over three weeks of confinement this past week.
Around 350 members from 17 families were permitted to return on February 13, followed by a second group of 32 villagers on February 15, they noted.
Seventeen members from three families, including 13 children, passed away under perplexing circumstances after becoming ill in the remote Badhaal village of Kotranka Sub-division between December 7 and January 19.
The last group of 13 individuals from Badaal, who had been quarantined at the Government Medical College (GMC) Rajouri, were discharged and returned home on Wednesday.
While the precise cause of death remains unresolved, authorities have formed a special investigative team and consulted experts from leading health institutions in the country; some suspect neurotoxins in the food supply as a likely cause of the fatalities.
The GMC Rajouri has been actively responding to the crisis, with medical professionals tirelessly working to manage the situation.
