A one-year-old baby has tragically become the second family member to die following a horror food poisoning which left nine relatives in hospital.
Police in Brazil confirmed overnight Igno Davi da Silva had lost his fight for life yesterday, a day after his teenage uncle died in an ambulance as he was rushed to hospital following a donated fish and rice New Years Day meal. It comes just over a week after a mystery Christmas cake poisoning killed three members of another Brazilian family in a separate drama.
Tragic Manoel Leandro da Silva, 17, was pictured for the first time today as relatives made funeral arrangements after authorities released his body to them.
Manoel’s 32-year-old sister Francisca Maria da Silva, Igno Davi’s mum, remains in hospital in Parnaiba in the north-east Brazilian sate of Piaui. Yesterday it emerged Francisca had lost two children to food poisoning last year.
Ulisses Gabriel da Silva, eight, died in November after nearly three months in hospital. His brother Joao Miguel da Silva, seven, had passed away on September 12.
A neighbour named as Lucelia Maria da Conceicao Silva, 52, was accused of giving them nuts laced with insecticide for allegedly taking fruit from a tree in her back yard and charged with double homicide. She is currently believed to be in prison as part of her pre-trial custody arrangements.
Overnight police said they believed the latest poisoning victims could have consumed food containing pesticides.
They were due to question a couple who donated fish and rice to the family – but insisted the pair had contacted police themselves after learning about Manoel’s death and had donated more fish to other locals as part of their “charitable work” who hadn’t suffered any problems.
The relatives police have been able to speak to so far have admitted they only ate the anchovy-type fish called Manjuba they were given and not the rice because they had prepared their own the night before. Tests by forensic experts are ongoing on blood and urine samples from the poisoning victims as well as genetic material from the dead teenager’s stomach.
Another forensic team went to the family home on the outskirts of Parnaiba where the fish was consumed and took away other food they had eaten to determine if it contained toxic substances.
The five family members still in hospital in the city have been identified as Francisca Maria da Silva, Manoel’s stepfather Francisca de Assis Pereira da Costa and three other children.
One of the youngsters has been described locally as Igno Davi’s two-year-old sister. Francisca was said to be breathing with the aid of a ventilator yesterday and her condition described as “serious” although hospital director Carlos Teixeira said all five patients were stable following initial reports before Igno Davi died pointing to three family members fighting for their life.
Mr Texeira added: “The patients’ symptoms were basically the same: below normal heart rate below normal, intense sweating, lowered level of consciousness. We are still carrying out tests to confirm the source and the poisoning material.”
Antonio Nunes, from the Piaui State Forensic Medicine Institute, said overnight the tests done so far were pointing towards the presence of pesticides.
Local police chief Abimael Silva, who revealed yesterday they were due to question the copule that donated the family the fish they ate, said in a new interview with local media: “They do philanthropic work. They’ve donated several food hampers here in the neighbourhood and they’ve also donated around 30 kilos of fish, manjuba, which was supplied by the fishermen’s association. Every year they do this service, but only the family here has fallen sick after consuming this food.”
Manoel’s sister Maria de Fatima Silva told Globo news programme Jornal Nacional yesterday before it emerged the youngest poison victim had died and the number of fatalities now stood at two: “I didn’t eat that fish because at lunchtime on New Years Day I was at my own house.
“My brother who died ate it as well as my sister who is intubated, the other three children, my sister-in-law and my nephew.”
Brazil is still reeling from a mystery Christmas cake poisoning in the southern city of Torres nearly 2,500 miles south of Parnaiba which ended with the deaths of three members of the same family.
Zeli dos Anjos, 61, prepared the traditional ‘Bolo de Natal’ festive treat for a family meal on December 23. She remains in hospital on a ventilator although the other survivors who were hospitalised have all now been discharged.
Zeli was one of six family members including a 10-year-old child who ended up in hospital with food poisoning. Her sisters Maida, 58, Neuza, 65, and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana, 43, all died shortly after eating the cake.
Traces of the toxic metal arsenic were reportedly found in the victims’ bodies, although further tests are ongoing.
In the wake of the Christmas horror it emerged Zeli’s husband had died from suspected food poisoning in September.
Zeli’s family have since revealed he ate bananas suspected to have been contaminated by chemicals following a flood in their home city.
Torres-based police chief Marcos Vinicius Veloso said earlier this week of the Christmas drama, as it emerged the poisoning could be linked to the use of contaminated foods following a power cut: “With the evidence we have collected, we do not know whether the poisoning was negligent or intentional.
“So far, I have not been able to find any intentional conduct. However, other evidence that comes to light may contradict what I think now. This is an investigation that requires great caution.”
Isabel Moraes, sister-in-law of Maida Bernice Flores da Silva who was among the three women who died, told Mail Online: “Zeli is horrified by what’s happened. She is overcome with guilt because it was her cake that caused the tragedy, but we keep telling her not to worry and that it was an accident.
“We said she shouldn’t blame herself, but she is getting so anxious it’s not doing her recovery any good. She is getting worse instead of getting better. She is on a ventilator to help her breathe and we don’t know when she will be discharged.”
She also claimed it could be linked to food donations Zeli and her husband were given in May after devastating floods forced them to move from their home city of Canoas a two-hour drive inland to a holiday home nearer Torres where the cake was eaten.
Isabel told Mail Online: “They lost everything, and they were given a lot of donations like everyone else.
“They had food and pots and pans and maybe somehow the ingredients they were given had already been tampered with by some bad person, it’s possible but we can definitely say it wasn’t Zeli.
“Maybe it was someone who was mentally ill, maybe someone was being cynical and put the poison in the ingredients and then donated the food.”
