Death toll of toxic sweets rises to 26 in eastern Pakistan

At least five people died after eating poisonous sweets at a hospital on Sunday, bringing death toll to 26 in eastern Pakistan's Layyah district over the last four days, local media reported.

Samaa TV said that 10 people are still being treated at Nishtar hospital of neighboring Multan district, where several of them are said to be in critical condition.

A resident of Karor Lal Esan village of Layyah, a district located in Pakistan's east Punjab province, distributed sweets among his relatives on the birth of his son, said the report.

All the relatives got sick and were shifted to hospital where the doctors said that the sweets had some toxic things in it.

The police raided the sweets shop and arrested the confectioner and sent the samples of the sweets to laboratory.

The province's chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif expressed sorrow over the deaths and ordered probe into the incident.

Source: XINHUA