A 3-year-old child died on Monday after ingesting laundry. In shock and full of guilt, her older sister takes her own life.
On Monday, December 6, a terrible story unfolded in the city of Santo Amaro, located in the state of Bahia in northern Brazil. A 3-year-old boy has died after accidentally drinking laundry. Desperate and feeling guilty for the death of her little brother, her 13-year-old older sister committed suicide by swallowing laundry in turn.
At the time of the events, the two young children were alone at the family home. According to the first elements of the investigation, it seems that the little boy confused the bottle of detergent and that of soda. Very quickly, the child’s condition worsened. Not knowing how to react to this atrocious scene and feeling terribly guilty for not having watched over her little brother at the time of the tragedy and for having left the bottle on the table, her older sister decided to drink, in turn, lye, or more exactly caustic soda used for this purpose.
Alerted, the neighbors notified the emergency services and the two victims were rushed to hospital for treatment, unfortunately the doctors could do nothing to save the two young victims intoxicated.
How to avoid accidents?
Every day, many home accidents take place all over the world. In most cases, laundry and household products are the main cause.
To avoid accidents of this kind as much as possible, it is important to follow certain rules.
- Keep laundry or other household product in its original packaging,
- Place them out of reach of children (high up or in a lockable cupboard),
- Close the package properly after each use,
- When you put the detergent in the washing machine, immediately close the door or shutter.
But if your child has ingested detergent anyway, you must react immediately (and know the emergency numbers):
- Contact the poison control center in your region or your doctor,
- If he does not vomit, do not try to induce this reaction.
- If the detergent gets in your eyes or on your skin, rinse these areas thoroughly with clean water for several minutes, then contact your regional poison control center or doctor.