2 kids die after eating boiled beans

COTABATO CITY – Two children of a poor couple died after eating boiled beans believed contaminated with pesticide in Midsayap, North Cotabato yesterday.

Superintendent Chino Mamburam, Midsayap police chief, said siblings Jorosh and Jeffrey Chu, aged two and three, respectively, first vomited excessively and writhed in pain before they died while undergoing treatment in a dispensary.

The victims’ mother, Jennifer, told police and municipal health workers that her children had eaten red munggo beans cooked in coconut milk.

Mamburam said they are convinced that the dish could have been accidentally contaminated with pesticide.

"Midsayap is an agricultural area and most of the people (there) are engaged in rice and corn farming and it’s a practice to store pesticides in homes," he said. – John Unson