Watusi-laced spaghetti kills pharmacy student

A 19-year-old student died Tuesday after accidentally eating a tiny piece of watusi which got into the spaghetti she was eating in the early morning of New Year’s day in Caloocan City.

Maria Sohitado, a pharmacy student of the Manila Central University, and a resident of 14 Waling-Waling St., Bagong Barrio, expired at about 10:20 p.m. at the MCU Hospital.

According to physician Ariel Miranda, the hospital did not have the medicine to counter watusi poisoning.

Miranda said a drug known as N-Acetylstene could have saved her life. He added very few hospitals have access to the antidote.

He also claimed that there is generally no antidote for yellow phosphorus, the dangerous element found in many firecrackers.

Reports said the victim ingested the poison at about 2 a.m. last Jan. 1 right in front of her house.

She and her brother, Magdaleno, were reportedly fetching water outside their house when the girl brought out a plate of spaghetti.

Reports said the victim ingested a portion of the firecracker and experienced stomach pains the following morning.

Sohitado’s mother said watusi could have found its way to her daughter’s food because the victim placed it beside the plants of their house a few hours after the New Year celebration.

As the victim was being treated at the MCU Hospital, Miranda said they called up the Philippine General Hospital to ask for medicine, but doctors there said the victim should first be examined by a toxicologist.