BURI RAM: A grieving mother has blamed the sudden death of her teenage daughter on a bowl of papaya salad with raw crab and fermented fish, or somtam isan.
Kachorn Atsiangram, 56, was speaking at her home as the family organised the funeral of 16-year-old Wanida, in Ban Nong Khai village on Thursday.
She had not expected the sudden onset of diarrhoea that preceded her daughter's death after they shared a bowl of somtam last Saturday.
Chananya Atsiangram, 39, the teenager's sister, said her mother bought papaya salad with raw crab and fermented fish from a nearby stall and shared it with Wanida around midday last Saturday.
Wanida was stricken with diarrhoea about 4am on Sunday, and the symptoms worsened. By noon an ambulance was called to take the girl to hospital. She was unconscious by the time it arrived. Staff at the local hospital tried to resuscitate her, to no avail.
Ms Chananya said Wanida was a healthy teenager and free of any disease. A doctor had attributed her death to a severe gastrointestinal infection. She warned others to eat only cooked food.
