India probes mystery illness in Kashmir after 17 die

Authorities in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir were investigating a mysterious disease that has claimed the lives of 17 people, local media reports said on Saturday.

The deaths, including those of 13 children, have occurred in the remote village of Badhaal in Jammu’s Rajouri area since early December.

The village was declared a containment zone earlier this week with around 230 people quarantined, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

All of the fatalities had damage to the brain and nervous system, Amarjeet Singh Bhatia, who heads Rajouri’s government medical college, said.

“The winter vacations have also been cancelled to deal with the medical alert situation,” PTI quoted Bhatia as saying.

The victims were members of three related families.