At least nine people have died and more than 200 others have fallen ill after drinking contaminated water in the Indian city of Indore, officials said, triggering a major public health response.
Local lawmaker Kailash Vijayvargiya confirmed that nine deaths had been recorded, while Indore’s chief medical officer, Madhav Prasad Hassani, told Reuters that the contamination was caused by a leak in the municipal water supply system in the Baghirathpura area.
Hassani said laboratory tests found bacteria inside the water pipeline, confirming contamination of drinking water. He added that more than 200 people from the affected neighborhood are currently receiving treatment at hospitals across the city, though the final death toll has not yet been confirmed pending further medical assessments.
District administrative official Shravan Verma said authorities had deployed medical teams to conduct door-to-door health checks and distributed chlorine tablets to residents to help disinfect water supplies. Emergency crews identified and repaired a suspected leakage point believed to be the source of the contamination.
According to Verma, more than 8,500 residents have been screened so far, with 338 people reporting mild symptoms.
The incident has shocked residents of Indore, located in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a city that has earned national recognition in recent years as India’s cleanest city, topping government sanitation rankings for eight consecutive years.
Authorities said investigations are ongoing to determine the full extent of the contamination and to prevent further cases, as concerns grow over water safety and infrastructure resilience in one of India’s fastest-growing urban centers.
Follow the latest news on Google News
