Eleven family members hospitalised after eating mushroom meal

U.S. authorities have confirmed that 11 members of a family in Peach Bottom Township, York County, South-East Pennsylvania, were hospitalised after they ate toxic mushrooms.

Confirming the incident in a Facebook post on Friday, the Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company said after receiving the report, six fire department and EMS units ambulances were immediately sent to convey the patients to the hospital for treatment.

“Station 57 was alerted to assist multiple EMS units with a mass casualty incident. Units were advised that 11 people had ingested toxic mushrooms and were all ill,” the post stated. “A total of 7 ALS and BLS units were dispatched from York, Lancaster and Harford counties. Six of them transported all 11 pediatric and adult patients to the hospital. Units cleared the scene in just over an hour.”

A spokesperson for the fire department, Gregory Fantom, told the media on Saturday that the family members were between one and 39 years old, among whom was a one-year-old.

According to Mr Fantom, the victim who reported the illnesses walked about 800 meters to a telephone booth to call 911 because the family is Amish and has no phone to make calls.

The Southern York County emergency medical services chief, Laura Taylor, told CNN, “It was wild mushrooms, but the hospital would have to confirm the type,” adding that the victims were taken to WellSpan York Hospital, where they were treated and released overnight.