Rajouri/Jammu, February 15: A second group of 32 villagers, previously housed in an isolation center due to unexplained deaths in their community, has returned home in Rajouri district, Jammu and Kashmir, as reported by officials on Saturday.
Seventeen individuals from three families, including 13 children, died under unexplained circumstances after falling ill in the secluded Badhaal village within the Kotranka Sub-division between December 7 and January 19.
On Saturday, around 350 residents from 70 families were permitted to return home after a 22-day stay in isolation facilities located at the Government Nursing College and the Government Boys’ Higher Secondary School in Rajouri town.
Among 50 villagers who were in a separate isolation unit at the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital in Rajouri, 32 individuals returned home on Saturday, with officials indicating that 18 people remain under observation in that facility.
While the precise cause of the deaths is still undetermined, experts from leading institutions across the country have been consulted, with suspicions pointing to a neurotoxin in the food chain as a potential contributor.
Residents were provided with comprehensive facilities during their isolation, and dedicated teams of officials were deployed in the village to care for the livestock of the evacuated families.
