NEW DELHI, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- India's federal government Saturday ordered the formation of an inter-ministerial team to probe the mystery deaths at a village in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said.
The orders to constitute the team have been issued by federal Home Minister Amit Shah.
At least 16 people have died of a mysterious illness over the past 43 days in Budhal village of Rajouri district, about 243 km south of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
People complained of fever, pain, nausea and loss of consciousness before dying within days of their hospitalization. A child admitted to the hospital remains in critical conditions.
"The team will consist of experts from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Water Resources. It will also be assisted by experts from animal husbandry, food safety and forensic science labs," the federal home ministry said in a statement.
The team will visit the affected village to ascertain the causes of deaths in three incidents in the past six weeks in Rajouri.
"The team would proceed on Sunday and in collaboration with the local administration would also work on providing immediate relief as well as taking precautionary measures to prevent such incidents in the future," the ministry said. "Experts from some of the most reputed institutions of the country have been arranged to manage the situation and understand the causative factors of deaths."
On Thursday, the local government of Indian-controlled Kashmir said investigations and samples empirically indicated that the incidents were not due to a communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin and that there is no public health angle. However, it said toxicological analysis has detected toxins in multiple biological specimens.
