Three dead, seven in Ukrainian hospital, after eating poison

Chernobyl nuclear plant seen in October 1986. Three people died, one of them a 12-year-old child, and seven were in hospital after eating poisonous mushrooms which they had gathered in the Dnipropetrovsk region of eastern Ukraine, the ministry of emergency situations said. AFP/Zufarov


KIEV (AFP) - Three people died, one of them a 12-year-old child, and seven were in hospital after eating poisonous mushrooms which they had gathered in the Dnipropetrovsk region of eastern Ukraine, the ministry of emergency situations said.

Three children were among the seven admitted to hospital Tuesday, all of them in critical condition.

Mushroom gathering is a favourite pastime in the Ukraine, where several people die every year of poisoning despite repeated warnings by the authorities.

Ukrainians are also urged not to eat any mushrooms in some regions which are still affected by the radioactive fall-out from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in April 1986.