By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-07 16:36:47 | Updated at 2025-01-08 14:58:18
22 hours ago
A mother has died after eating poisoned rice that also killed her two children and brother at a New Year's Day lunch in Brazil.
Francisca da Silva, 32, was pronounced dead during the early hours of Tuesday at Dircea Arcoverde State Hospital in Parnaíba, a city in the northeastern state of Piauí.
Her death comes a day after her three-year-old daughter, Maria Lauane da Silva, died. Her one-year-old son, Igno da Silva, died last Thursday.
Francisca da Silva's 18-year-old brother, Manoel da Silva, died in an ambulance while he was being rushed to a local hospital.
Her four-year-old daughter, Maria Gabrielle da Silva, is under observation and in critical condition at Teresina Emergency Hospital in Teresina.
'At this time of immense pain, we express our sincere condolences to the patient's family and reaffirm that the multidisciplinary team at HEDA worked with total dedication, following all necessary protocols and measures to ensure the best care during her stay at the unit,' the hospital said in a statement following Francisca's death.
Four other family members have been discharged from hospital, where they received treatment after eating the rice, which authorities confirmed was contaminated with terbufos, a toxic substance found in pesticides and agriculture chemicals.
Its sale for residential use is prohibited under Brazilian law.
The tragedy comes months after da Silva's two oldest children died after eating poisoned cashews.
Francisca da Silva died during the early hours of Tuesday. The 32-year-old consumed poisoned rice for a New Year's Day lunch, which also claimed the lives of her two children, aged 1 and 3, and 18-year-old brother. Her four-year-old daughter is fighting for her life at a hospital
Three-year-old Maria Lauane da Silva died during the early hours of Monday at a hospital in Teresina, Brazil. The child is the fourth person from the same family to die from eating poisoned rice during a New Year's Day lunch. Her mother, one-year-old brother and 18-year-old uncle also died
Igno da Silva, 1, died on January 2, a day after he and eight other family members consumed poisoned rice for a New Year's Day lunch at his home in Parnaíba, a city in the northeastern Brazilian state of Piauí. His mother, three-year-old sister and 18-year-old uncle also died. His four-year-old sister remains hospitalized
A neighbor, who is under arrest, gifted a package of nuts to João da Silva, 7, and Ulisses da Silva, 8, on August 23, 2004.
João died five days later and Ulisses spent nearly three months hospitalized and died November 11.
The Piauí Civil Police said that the two incidents are not related and are investigating how the rice was poisoned.
'It's impossible for it to have ended up there without someone's intention,' Civil Police chief Abimael Silva said, as quoted by Brazilian news outlet G1.
Dr. Antônio Nunes, who oversees the Piauí Institute of Legal Medicine, told the outlet that there were 'visible granules' of terbufos in the rice that was collected.
Manoel da Silva, 18, died the afternoon of New Year's Day moments after he consumed leftover rice that had been contaminated with terbufos, a substance that is found in pesticides and agriculture chemicals
Authorities in the northeastern Brazilian state of Piauí analyze the leftover rice that the family had as part of their lunch on New Year's Day and found that it had traces of terbufos, a substance that is found in pesticides and agriculture chemicals
Authorities said the family came together to celebrate New Year's Eve on December 31 and had a meal of rice, beans and meat and showed no side effects before some of the family members and a neighbor returned to their homes at dawn.
They gathered at the same residence January 1 and reheated the rice and served it with fish that was donated by a couple that do charity work in the neighborhood.
The group fell ill shortly after 12 noon before paramedics were called.
Authorities initially thought the family had been poisoned by the fish before toxicology reports showed the victims had traces of the pesticide that is similar to chumbinho, a rat poison.
Police have not identified any suspects, but have ruled out the involvement of family members.
Francisca da Silva with her one-year-old son Igno and three-year-old daughter Maria Lauane
Inside the kitchen at the Parnaíba, Brazil residence where a meal that included the contaminated rice was prepared for a New Year's Day lunch that lead to the deaths of four people
A police officer receives a bag containing left overs from the meal that killed four family members and hospitalized five in Parnaíba, Brazil
The New Year's Day family tragedy comes as Brazilian authorities were also tied up with the investigation surrounding a poisoned Christmas cake and the deaths of three family members in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on December 23.
On Sunday, the Civil Police announced the arrest of Deise dos Anjos, the daughter-in-law of Zeli dos Santos, who helped bake the cake that killed her two sisters Neuza dos Anjos, 65, and Maida da Silva, 53, and her niece and Neuza's daughter, Tatiana dos Anjos, 47.
During a press conference Monday, authorities revealed that Deise was motivated by a 'family dispute of more than 20 years' that she had with Zeli, but did not offer more details.
They also said that the flour that was used to make the cake contained arsenic, a toxic substance that is found in pesticides.
Authorities are also investigating whether Deise was involved in the September death her father-in-law and Zeli's husband, Paulo Luiz.
While his death was said to be from natural causes, authorities have requested that his body be exhumed to determine if he too was poisoned.
