India, May 24 -- A suspected case of food poisoning claimed four lives and left at least 17 others ill after they attended a funeral feast at Nuadihi village under Hemgiri block of Odisha's Sundargarh district.

According to reports, villagers had gathered for a dashaha (post-funeral ritual feast) in Nuadihi when several attendees began suffering from vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhoea shortly after consuming the food.

It is being suspected that contaminated food served during the feast led to the deaths and illnesses.

Among the deceased are two persons from Sundargarh district, identified as Mangal Sai Nayak of Nuadihi village and Raibari Pradhan, a 50-year-old woman from Hemgiri. The two other deceased persons belonged to Jharsuguda...