The Indonesian woman is taken to the Intensive Care Unit upon her arrival from Lundu Hospital.
LUNDU: An Indonesian woman died from mistakenly consuming weedkiller while her two-year-old baby girl is in serious condition after being fed the same poison.
The incident was discovered on Tuesday at an oil palm plantation at Metang Terap when the woman’s husband arrived back at his quarters around 3pm and found his wife motionless on the floor next to their baby daughter.
The husband — an Indonesian farmhand — checked on the victim and found her in a weakened state with foam in her mouth, while his daughter’s breath smelled of weedkiller.
Both mother and child were rushed to Lundu Hospital for treatment before being rushed to the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching, where the former died around 3am yesterday.
District police chief DSP Wong Chee Kiong, who confirmed the case, said initial investigation revealed the deceased, 27-year-old Rahmahniahani, had consumed weedkiller after mistaking it for coffee.
“Investigation conducted by police at the scene found no signs of foul play. The mother is believed to have mistook the poison for coffee and had initially tried to feed her baby daughter.
“When the infant rejected the poison, the mother gulped it down herself before realising that the cup she was holding did not contain coffee,” he said, adding the case has been classified as sudden death.
It was learnt that the couple’s baby is currently warded at Sarawak General Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, with her condition described as serious.