By: Hafsatu Z Bangura
On Tuesday 29th March 2023, the people of Goderich community were taken aback when food eaten by those who were fortunate to receive food started feeling uncomfortable after eating the food.
The said food was provided by one philanthropist as it is a tradition that during Ramadan those who can afford and are willing can provide food and non-food items to the less privileged.
At about 7 pm on that day, the said philanthropist took the said food at the Shebra Town Mosque at Goderich. According to an eyewitness, eight people including children ate the food that adversely affected them.
Those who ate the food were rushed to the Emergency Hospital at Goderich where one of the victims, Mohamed Koroma, a 4-year-old boy, lost his life, his remains was taken to Connaught Hospital awaiting postmortem.
The others are presently responding to treatment at the Emergency Hospital in Freetown.
Speaking to this press, the mother of the late Mohamed Koroma, Fatmata Koroma, said that her son was with him for the rest of the day. She said that at about 7:30 pm her son came home very helpless.
She said her son told her he ate cooked food at the Shebra Town Mosque. ‘‘My son Mohamed Koroma was not sick; he was very healthy when he went to the mosque and later came home as a dead person,’’ she cried.
According to reports, several Imams at the mosque have been detained by the police due to food poisoning caused by the food shared at the mosque. The cause of the food poisoning is unclear at this time.
The scene was visited by the Sierra Leone police and they are currently investigating the cause of the suspected food poisoning that has led to the death of one child.