Two kids escape en route to hospital, staff clueless

Five ambulances arrived at the remand home in Siddapur, south Bengaluru, in the early hours on Monday to ferry over 100 children to hospital after they took ill.

While the staff assumed all the 105 children boarded the ambulances, the headcount was just 103 when the ambulances reached the hospital.

A staff member of the Siddapur Sarari Balamandira who spoke to DH on the condition of anonymity said that they had no clue how the two children had escaped.

It was all chaos as the midnight calm was disturbed by the wails of children who complained of severe pain in the abdomen on Sunday night. Two children had spotted a lizard in the food they were served and one of them had nearly swallowed it.

Vomiting and diarrhoea

As a few children had severe vomiting and diarrhoea, the staff had no choice but to shift the children to Indira Gandhi Institue of Child Health in the wee hours on Monday as a precaution.

“We were more concerned about their health. We noticed that two of them were missing only after we took a count. We don’t even know the names of the missing children,” said a staff member.

He added that the incident possibly took place when the staff were helping the children get into the ambulance. “We were worried about the ones who fell sick. These children may have fled out of fear or may have taken the opportunity to escape. We will speak to the police and are hopeful that they are safe,” said the staff member.

“We have informed the police who will trace them and bring them back to the remand home,” he said.

The Balamandir staff lodged a complaint with the Siddapur police. “We will help trace these children and bring them back to the remand home,” said a senior police officer.