Three children from the same family have died within five days in northern Chitwan after developing symptoms including headache, vomiting and diarrhoea, said doctors.

Shyam Bahadur Chepang, father of the deceased children, said the symptoms began on Wednesday. Between last Friday and Tuesday morning, all three children died.

One child died in the village, while the other two died during treatment at Bharatpur Hospital.

The family is from Kulbang village near Kaule Hattibang in ward 1 of Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality.

Shyam Bahadur said the family of five had eaten maize rice and wild leafy vegetables locally known as tanki on Tuesday evening before going to sleep. Locals and doctors suspect the family may have consumed poisonous wild mushrooms.

However, Shyam Bahadur said the family had eaten wild mushrooms around 10 days before the children became ill.

“We usually eat wild mushrooms found in the forest,” he said. “We ate only a very small amount once this year, and that was around 10 days before the children became sick.”

According to Dr Ram Prasad Sapkota, spokesperson for Bharatpur Hospital, the symptoms resembled poisoning caused by wild mushrooms, although further investigation and testing are underway because some details do not fully match typical cases.

The youngest daughter, nine-year-old Namuna, died in the village on Friday. The eldest daughter, 13-year-old Manita, and 11-year-old son Sajan were taken to Bharatpur Hospital by locals on Friday afternoon.

The hospital said Sajan died on Saturday night, while Manita died at 6am on Tuesday.

Shyam Bahadur and his wife Padam Kumari are in stable condition. Shyam Bahadur remains at the hospital following the deaths of the children, while Padam Kumari is staying in the village.

Locals transported the patients to Bharatpur in a goods vehicle from Hattibang. The journey to the hospital through Banspur along the Shaktikhor-Phisling road took around one and a half hours.

Chitwan has witnessed similar incidents linked to wild mushroom poisoning in the past. Between mid-May and mid-June 2010, eight members of a family in Lothar Kanda died after consuming poisonous wild mushrooms. In another incident, five members of a family died in Chaukidanda of Kabilas.

Doctors say poisonous mushrooms containing toxins such as amanita can damage the liver, nervous system, blood and kidneys, and may lead to death.