Six members of a family are in a critical condition after consuming meal cooked with acid! The incident has taken place in Ratneshwarbati village of Ghatal in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal.
Six people of the same family including two children are in danger after eating food which was accidently cooked in acid instead of water. They are currently undergoing treatment at Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital. Ingesting acid chemicals is extremely dangerous and causes severe, life-threatening damage to the mouth, throat, and entire digestive tract by burning and destroying tissues upon contact.
How the incident took place?
According to local sources, Santu Sanyasi, a resident of Ratneshwarbati village of Manoharpur No. 1 Gram Panchayat in Ghatal, is engaged in copper and silver work. As a result, acid was always kept in the house for professional purpose. On Sunday, a relative of Sanyasi mistakenly poured the acid kept in the house while cooking rice mistaking it for water. He did not realise anything while cooking the rice. After a while of eating the meal, the whole family fell ill. They started experiencing unbearable stomach pain and vomiting. They were immediately rushed to the nearby Ghatal Subdistrict Hospital. But when their condition started deteriorating, the hospital authorities referred all six family members including two kids to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata.
On receiving the news, Panchanan Mandal, the health officer of Ghatal Panchayat Samiti, rushed to the spot. Police and administration officials also went to the area. How this incident happened is being investigated.
Ghatal Panchayat Samiti Health Officer Panchanan Mandal said, “A relative of the family mistakenly cooked rice and vegetables in the acid water kept at home and served the food to them. The incident came to light after they fell ill. After that, they were admitted to the Ghatal Subdistrict Hospital. Later, they were admitted to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. All six members of the family are in critical condition.”
Why is acid needed for copper and silver work?
Acid is needed for copper and silver work to remove oxides and other residues, particularly after processes like soldering, and it can be used in the refinement and electroplating of these metals. For cleaning, acids like a mild “pickle” dissolve copper and silver oxides, while for more aggressive processes, stronger acids are used in the refining or extraction of these metals.
Acidic solutions are used to dissolve copper and silver from ores or other materials. For example, sulfuric acid is used to dissolve copper in the pretreatment of copper-silver ore. In silver electroplating onto a copper base, an acid is added to the solution to counteract the formation of undesirable silver oxide by reacting with hydroxide ions that can form at low voltages.
Stronger acids like nitric acid can dissolve copper, but the reaction is different from a simple acid-metal reaction, as it is an oxidizing agent that forms nitrogen oxides instead of hydrogen gas. In some specific cases, such as with gold, a mixture of acids is needed to dissolve the metal.