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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Jonathan Coles

Second boy from Afghan family fleeing Taliban dies after eating poisonous mushrooms

A second boy from an Afghan family evacuated to Poland has died after eating mushrooms, reports say.

The six-year-old passed away on Friday, doctors said - just 24 hours after his five-year-old brother.

It it thought that the youngsters ate death cap mushrooms - one of the world's most poisonous - in as yet unexplained circumstances.

The boys' sister, 17, was also taken ill but has since been discharged from hospital.

The family arrived at a refugee facility in Podkowa Lesna near Warsaw on August 23.

The children then became unwell a few days later - before tragedy struck earlier this week.

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The family were flown to Poland after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The youngest child was declared brain dead on Thursday, with the second fatality coming a day later.

The six-year-old had received a liver transplant earlier this week but his condition did not improve.

"The child's death has been registered," the Children's Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw said in a statement reported by NDTV.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident.

Jakub Dudziak, a spokesman for the Office for Foreigners, had denied a press report that the children had eaten the mushrooms because they were not being fed sufficiently at the centre.

Evacuees are given "three meals a day, consisting of varied ingredients with appropriate calorific value, including dairy products, meat, vegetables, fruit and drinks", he said.

"In connection with this unfortunate accident, employees of centres for foreigners will sensitise Afghan citizens not to consume products of unknown origin," Dudziak added.

According to Polish website oko.press, the dad of the two boys worked for the British Army in Afghanistan for several years.

The family was then airlifted from Kabul to Uzbekistan last month at the request of the UK, as the Taliban took over, before being flown to Poland.

Amanita phalloides - commonly known as death cap mushrooms - is one of the poisonous of all known mushrooms.

Widely distribute across Europe, they resemble a number of edible mushrooms - meaning they can easily be confused and eaten.

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