Girl dies of cassava poisoning in Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza on Wednesday ordered an inquiry on the reported death of a three-year-old child and the hospitalization of three other school children after eating improperly cooked cassava.

Mendoza also assured to help in the medication of the victims.

The victims belong to a poor peasant family in Pikit town in the first district of North Cotabato.

Sources from the municipal government of Pikit said victims first complained of painful abdominal spasms and dizziness after feasting on boiled cassava.

Neighbors rushed them to the hospital where the youngest of them was pronounced dead on arrival.

Besides rice, cassava and other root crops, such as kamote and ube, are also basic staples among people in agricultural enclaves in Central Mindanao.