According to a heartbreaking news report from This Day, a tragic incident has struck a family in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State. A mother and her three children have sadly lost their lives after consuming what is suspected to be poisonous rice.

The father, popularly known as Alfa Ahmad, who also ate the rice, has been hospitalised in Ilorin. The incident occurred last weekend in the Oshin area on Asa Dam Road.

Investigations by This Day revealed that the first child, Abibat, passed away first, with the mother and two other children succumbing in the early hours of the following day. The other two children who lost their lives are Zainab and Abdulfatah.

A source close to the family told journalists yesterday in Ilorin that: “On Saturday morning they said they all ate rice, and after eating the food, the parents went out and returned home in the evening.

“When they came back, the first child was the one that started feeling weak, so they rushed her to the hospital where she died.

Also, after the parents got back home at midnight, they met other two children vomiting, and they were also rushed to hospital that night of Saturday; also, on Sunday afternoon, the mother was rushed to hospital too.

“Three of them, the mother and the remaining two kids, died too at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, and they've brought their corpses home.

“We are preparing for their burial at the Muslims Cemetery, meanwhile, their father is still in the hospital receiving treatment.”

When contacted, a senior officer with the UITH, who sought anonymity, confirmed the incident to journalists yesterday, saying that “we are still working on the cause of the death in order to ascertain the authenticity of the food taken suspected to be poisonous rice.”

She, however, said that the management of the hospital has released the corpse of the deceased to the family while the father of the children is still at the hospital for further medical attention.”