Toddler in critical condition after drinking 'water'
By Echo Shan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-27 16:30

Lele, a toddler, became very sick and has been confined to bed for three months after drinking a mouthful of what he assumed was mineral water.

Two-year-old Lele is receiving an operation at Xi'an First Hospital affiliated with Xi'an Communication University on October 26, 2005. [newsphoto]

Two-year-old Lele was taken to the First Hospital-affiliated with Xi'an Communication University on October 26 and received an operation in which surgeons removed his pylorus (the lower part of the stomach leading to the small intestine) and connected the duodenum to the stomach. The boy remains in the intensive care unit for further examination.

Back on July 27 2005, recall Lele's parents who brought the boy to Xi'an for a better treatment and hopeful cure, Lele drank hydrochloric acid water that they thought was mineral water as it was in a mineral water bottle. It happened at the motorcycle-repair factory that Lele's father runs.

"Had my apprentice at the factory not placed the harmful water used for mending motorcycles within the reach of Lele, he would have right now been playing together with his fellow hometown toddlers," murmured the father repeatedly in desperation.

With a weak breath, the now skinny Lele is in a deep coma after the operation, with his fate still in doubt. His frowning mother comforts him with tender strokes as he clings to life via life support.