Four children die after having meat dumplings for dinner

Four children, all from one family, died after eating pelmeni (meat dumplings) and chicken that their parents bought in a local village shop. A preliminary investigation showed that the children may have added pesticides to their food by mistake having taken them for seasoning.

Photo: flickr.com by Eugene Kim, CC BY 2.0

A large quantity of pesticides and animal antibiotics were found during searches of the victims' home. The chemicals were found in the kitchen where the family had dinner. The products were sent for examination. The version of low-quality food has not been ruled out yet.

The mother later told investigators how she prepared the food. She asked the children to make the dumplings, while she herself added seasoning only to the chicken. It remains unknown whether the children added anything to the dumplings.

It is believed that the children confused the toxic substances with seasonings and added them to the food.

Relatives said that one of the daughters cooked the dumplings at the request of her mother. The girl may have confused the seasoning with fly poison. Family neighbours said that the mother would also bring home rat poison from the farm. The children may have used rat poison as seasoning as the were cooking meat dumplings. 

The whole family developed stomachaches after dinner, but it was only the father who took a pill. Before losing consciousness, he managed to say that his younger children felt unwell at night. He did not take them to the hospital because he was feeling unwell himself so he asked his sister to help.

Two girls, aged six and eleven, as well their 13-year-old brother could not be saved. Their fourth sibling, a 12-year-old girl, died later as well.

The parents were taken to intensive care and regained consciousness on September 23 in the morning. The mother of the deceased children, a 32-year-old woman, was pregnant. Doctors managed to save her pregnancy.

The family bought the meat dumplings at the local food shop. The dumplings were sold unpacked. The supplier and the owner of the shop were summoned for questioning. It became known that the dumplings that the store purchased from a local entrepreneur did not have the necessary veterinary documentation for them. The shop owner had the documents ready only on September 23. A shop employee said that the dumplings arrived a week ago, but no one in the village had any complaints after buying them

"The woman is not tidy, you know, their house is all a mess. How could they allow this to happen? How could they keep food next to rat and fly poison?" the shop employee said.

Details

Pelmeni are dumplings of Russian cuisine that consist of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough. It is debated whether they originated in Ural or Siberia. Pelmeni have been described as "the heart of Russian cuisine". The dough is made from flour and water, sometimes adding a small portion of eggs. The filling can be minced meat (pork, lamb, beef, fish or any other kind of meat, venison being particularly traditional for colder regions) or mushrooms, or a combination of the two. The mixing together of different kinds of meat is also popular. The traditional Udmurt recipe requires a mixture of 45% beef, 35% mutton, and 20% pork. Various spices, such as black pepper and diced onions as well as garlic, are mixed into the filling. They are commonly topped with sour cream, mayonnaise, dill, red onions or vinegar, all of which are traditional to the region and can be produced in the Siberian climate.