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Eleven members of an Amish family were hospitalized in Pennsylvania after eating wild toxic mushrooms, a voluntary fire department said.
Emergency services responded to reports of a “mass casualty” in Peach Bottom Township, Delta on Friday evening.
Authorities told Local21news that the family discovered the mushrooms in the woods and were eating them for dinner.
Nine children and two adult patients were admitted to the hospital after ingesting the noxious mushrooms, reported CNN.
The youngest to be affected was a one-year-old, Southern York County EMS chief Laura Taylor told The Independent.
Spokesperson for the Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company Gregory Fantom told CNN that the family consisted of a man, a woman, and nine of their children.
They ranged in age from 1 to 39, the department told the outlet. The township is situated north of Baltimore, Maryland, and on the western bank of the Susquehanna River.
Taylor told CNN: “It was wild mushrooms, but the hospital would have to confirm the type.”
At the scene, only 10 patients were found as the eleventh family member – who was also unwell – had trekked half a mile to find a phone booth to call 911 and alert authorities, according to CBS Austin.
Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company Station 57 said in a statement online: “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.
“A total of 7 ALS and BLS units were dispatched from York, Lancaster and Harford counties. 6 of them transported all 11 pediatric and adult patients to the hospital. Units cleared the scene in just over an hour.”
Six emergency services units took all of the patients to the nearest hospital. The department refused to identify the adults involved.
All eleven people have since been released from the hospital the Southern York County EMS said. Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company Station 57 has been contacted for comment.
According to a medical journal published by the CDC, poisonous mushrooms can result in serious illness and death if ingested by people.
