Every year, migrant workers from Burma fall ill after eating unidentified mushrooms during the rainy season in Yunnan.
Seven migrant workers from Burma fell ill in Lon Chuan town in China’s Yunnan province after eating poisonous mushrooms that they had gathered themselves from a garden.
The workers were sent back to Burma through the Nandaw border gate in Muse, Shan State on Wednesday evening.
The affected people were U Tun Lin, age 43; U Tun Tun Oo, age 36; Ma Thein Thein Win, age 28; Maung Super, age 26; Ma Su Myat Khine, age 23; and Ma Kay Zin and Maung Tin San Lin, both 18 years old. They are all from Magwe Region.
According to Muse Garuna Social Volunteer Group, U Tun Tun Oo died in Pang Jalort village near Nam Phetka while being transferred to a hospital in Mandalay from Muse.
“We sent the other remaining people to a Mandalay hospital,” said U Thaung Tun, who works with the volunteer group.
The group reportedly got sick on the evening of June 20, and were admitted to the Wan Zuro hospital in China. When they failed to show signs of recovery, they were sent back to Burma.
Seven Burmese workers died in China last year after eating poisonous mushrooms. The phenomenon occurs annually, as migrant workers gather food, and are not aware which mushrooms are unsafe to eat.
The species of mushroom was not known at the time of reporting.