22 December 2009 / TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH WIRES, İSTANBUL
Three siblings, Hedal Ece (7), Sait Ece (5) and İzzet Ece (1), died on Friday in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa after two of them were diagnosed with food poisoning; however, doctors are now examining blood samples to see if the children had swine flu.
Hedal along with her brother, Sait, were brought to the hospital by their father, Abdürrezzak Ece, with high fevers and nausea on Thursday. Doctors diagnosed them with food poisoning and prescribed medication. After some time, the two children were sent back home. The parents found Hedal and Sait’s dead bodies on Friday morning. Police seized the medication given to the children as part of an investigation into their deaths. Blood samples taken from the children were sent to the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) to see if the children had the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as swine flu.After the parents, Abdülrezak and Zeliha Ece, buried their two children, İzzet Ece was then brought to Şanlıurfa Children’s Hospital on Friday night since he had a high fever similar to his deceased siblings’ symptoms. İzzet Ece died on Sunday after being treated in the intensive care unit. The child’s body was brought to the morgue of the Şanlıurfa Teaching and Research Hospital for autopsy. Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, the father, Abdülrezak Ece, complained that doctors have not explained why his children died. “I want doctors to state the cause of my children’s deaths to prevent more children from dying,” he added. The Şanlıurfa Governor’s Office has demanded an investigation into the deaths of the three children.
