On Wednesday, 22 November 2017, three children died and others were poisoned in Zamalka city, which was besieged several years ago in Eastern Ghouta in Damascus countryside. The children died after having a poisonous substance similar to salt, and according to Syrians for Truth and Justice/STJ reporter, a number of sellers, which he called "merchants of war" did some tricks, wanting to increase their profits, by mixing some food items such as "salt" with other materials. This has happened under the siege that Syrian government forces imposed on cities and towns of Eastern Ghouta for several years.
Israa al-Hussein, a woman from Zamalka poisoned with the rest of her family, after having something like salt, she spoke to STJ about what happened and said:
"We bought salt from a seller in Zamalka, and then we started preparing the food, and when we ate it, my mother-in-law was injured first, and showed some symptoms given her old age and her weak body. Only moments later, she got up from her chair, put her hand on her head, and she started vomiting then lost her consciousness. After that, the symptoms started to show on me and my husband and then my daughter. A neighbor dispatched us to the medical center in Zamalka at 8:00 p.m., and all I remember is that I went into a coma, and I did not wake up until 6:00 in the morning. The same happened to my daughter and my mother-in-law, however, my husband hasn’t woken up from his coma yet."
Israa said the doctors had advised her not to breastfeed her baby for 15 days because she was poisoned, and she explained that securing the formula milk for her child is difficult under the suffocating siege of eastern Ghouta cities and towns.
Image showing two children from Zamalka, died as a result of poisoning on November 22, 2017,
Photo credit: Facebook page for Ghouta Media Centre.
Another image of a young man poisoned in Zamalka on November 22, 2017, following having a poisonous substance resembling the salt.
Photo credit: Facebook page of the Ghouta Media Centre.
Mu'tasim Al Ali, director of the medical center which received dozens of poisoned people, told STJ, that the centre had received more than 30 cases of poisoning on Wednesday, causing unusual pressure on the centre, and in that regard, he continued:
"We received the first poisoning cases at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, and the symptoms were bellyache and coma. In addition to this, we received entire families who had been poisoned and lost consciousness, so we did our best to treat those cases, but we were unable to save a young girl identified as Khitam Saleh, three years old, as she died as soon as she arrived the centre, followed directly by her other sister, called Rahma Saleh, four years old, and the next day her six -year old sister died. We have done everything in our power to save their lives. However, under the siege of Ghouta, the shortage of medicines and equipment has halted us."
For its part, on November 23, 2017, the Directorate of Health in Damascus and its countryside issued a statement confirming that the aid centers in Eastern Ghouta received 30 poisoned patients in intensive care, as a result of eating a poisonous substance mixed with the salt, which later found "Sodium Nitrite" mixed with salt of food, and caused the death of three children from one family.
Image of the statement issued by the Directorate of Health in Damascus and its countryside on November 23, 2017, on the poisoning incidents in the city of Zamalka in Eastern Ghouta. Photo credit: Facebook page of the Directorate of Health in Damascus and its countryside.