Four people have died and 14 others are still receiving emergency treatment after eating poisonous mushrooms in Lianzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, according to a report issued by the city's government yesterday.

"Two of the patients are in a critical situation," Xie Zhiming, a city government official, told China Daily.

On September 11, dozens of people from Dalubian County, Lianzhou, started exhibiting symptoms including chest pains, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches and weak limbs after eating wild mushrooms picked from a local mountain.

Casualties

Eleven of the most serious casualties were admitted to Lianzhou People's Hospital that night and more followed over the next few days, showing symptoms of poisoning.

The gastrointestinal toxin in the mushrooms can travel deep into the human liver and kidneys, damaging internal organs, Xie said.

"The physically strong people have recovered now they've had their stomachs pumped," Xie said. "But the old and weak people, and children are more vulnerable."

The four fatalities were two women in their sixties, a 30-year-old woman, and a 12-year-old boy.

The Lianzhou Health Bureau has warned local residents to be on high alert against eating poisonous mushrooms and asked them to stop picking wild mushrooms.

The local television station also broadcast pictures of four kinds of poisonous mushrooms so as to help the public identify them.

The city government dispatched a medical team to offer free physical check-ups for local residents.

Local media reported that over 120 people have been put under observation in hospital.

Editor: Yan