Every summer we hear cases of people unwittingly consuming poisonous mushrooms and this year has not been different. A family from Chirumanzu lost a mother and her two children who succumbed to poisonous mushrooms. Six other family members were hospitalised as part of the same incident.

The incident happened last week and was confirmed by Chirimanzu’s District Administrator, Mr Vafi Hlavati:

We are handling a very sad incident, which occurred on Sunday in Makina Village under Chief Chirumanzu in which three family members died while six others were hospitalised after they consumed poisonous mushroom during supper.
The most tragic part is that the granny was the breadwinner and the other adults also succumbed leaving only minors, the eldest being an 8-year-old girl who is in Grade 3.

Mushrooms are delicate but some can be deadly

Mushrooms are a sought after delicate and offer relief from the usual sadza and vegetable routine but they can be deadly. Supermarket mushrooms can be more expensive than meat sometimes and people are often tempted to go for free mushrooms. These require great skill and knowledge otherwise there can be sad and lethal consequences.