Asthmatic child dies as smoke continues to emit from Khargone trenching ground

Khargone: As local administration continued its efforts to curb the thick smoke emanating from trenching ground on the outskirts of Khargone district headquarters, a two-year-old asthmatic child who had complained of breathing difficulties, allegedly due to the smoke, died on Monday night after being referred from district hospital to Indore.Father of the deceased child Sajid Sheikh, a resident of Gopalpura, alleged that continuous smoke from the trenching ground had caused breathing problems to his two-year-old son, Ali. The child was admitted to district hospital, where doctors advised shifting him to a higher centre after his condition worsened. According to the family, the child died by the time they reached a private hospital in Indore. His last rites were performed on Monday night. They also claimed that Ali had no problems earlier.Villagers said that another asthma patient, an elderly woman named Saeeda Bi, too experienced breathing difficulties due to the smoke and was admitted to the district hospital, where her condition improved.Khargone CMHO Dr Daulat Singh Chauhan told TOI that he visited Gopalpura and met the family of deceased child on Tuesday. He said that prima facie, the child's death appeared to have occurred due to asthma. The child was treated by a paediatric specialist at the district hospital but was referred to a higher centre after his condition did not improve, he said.Khargone Collector Bhavya Mittal told TOI the fire at the trenching ground had been controlled, but smoke continued to rise from the waste. On Tuesday, eight fire tenders and nearly a dozen earth-moving machines were deployed to deal with the situation. She confirmed that information about the death of a two-year-old asthmatic child was received, but said the death cannot be directly linked to smoke pollution.A team led by the Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) was sent to Gopalpura to investigate the matter, she said.