City Holi colour poisoning kills boy, lands over 200 in hospital

Mumbai: Holi revelry took on a nightmarish hue in parts of the city on Thursday as "colour poisoning" caused the death of a child and led to the hospitalization of scores of others.      About 195 people were admitted to Sion Hospital and another 12 to Rajawadi Hospital, beginning in the afternoon, after they complained of giddiness, burning sensation on skin, nausea and vomiting. A 13-year-old, Vicky Valmiki, who was taken to Rajawadi with similar symptoms died at 11pm.      The hotbeds of the colour poisoning, the police said, were areas like Shastri Nagar, Shahu Nagar and Lokmanya Tilak Nagar in Dharavi, where panic spread fast as news travelled of children fainting. Between 1pm and 2pm, over 100 patients were rushed to Sion Hospital, many in police vans.      Over the day, Sion Hospital admitted about 195 patients, 91 of them children, hospital dean Dr Sandhya Kamath said. Three of the patients—Renuka Maitre (3), Venkatesh Patnam (12) and Omkar Pode (9)—were admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit after the oxygen levels in their blood dipped significantly.      Till late evening, there was little clarity on the source of the toxic colours or the precise nature of the poisonous substance. The state government has set up a high-level probe into the episode.      The police suspected the toxic substance may have come from a Dharavi dumping ground where harmful effluents are thrown by the area's leather tanners.