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Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing
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readers → publish → details
At about 3am one morning in May, Bamita Markam began convulsing.
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Markam → begin → May
The three-year-old had spent days with a high fever and angry red sores on her body.
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old → spend → body
Her mother, Koushila, had first taken her to a doctor, who prescribed an ointment.
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who → take → ointment
Bamita seemed to recover, then became ill again.
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Bamita → seem → ?
A faith healer, called to the house in Matla village, gave her syrups and tablets.
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healer → call → syrups
Nothing worked.
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Nothing → work → ?
"She cried a lot," Koushila recalls.
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Koushila → cry → ?
"She convulsed all night."
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She → convulse → ?
The family tried to make her drink water.
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her → try → water
At one point she vomited blood.
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she → vomit → blood
They buried her in a jungle after midday.
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They → bury → midday
Bamita's death was one of at least 32 child deaths recorded since May in a cluster of remote villages in Balaghat district in India's Madhya Pradesh state, officials say.
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officials → record → state
The victims ranged from babies just three or four months old to an 18-year-old, and most were Baiga, one of India's 75 "particularly vulnerable tribal groups", external.
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most → range → groups
Officials attribute the deaths to mainly measles and malaria, possibly aggravated by malnutrition and delays in treatment.
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Officials → attribute → treatment
They believe eight to 10 deaths were associated with measles, roughly another 10 with malaria, with several children suffering more than one infection.
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children → believe → infection
"I have never seen an outbreak like this.
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I → see → this
My father was a two-term lawmaker, and I have served three terms, but neither of us has seen so many children die in such a short time," Sanjay Uikey, who has represented the area since 2013,
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who → serve → 2013
In remote, forested parts of Balaghat, where Maoist insurgency once took root, reaching a health centre can be a challenge in itself.
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reaching → take → itself
In the monsoon, the terrain can make that journey harder.
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journey → make → monsoon
Paddy fields glow against red earth and low, forested hills.
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fields → glow → earth
Narrow dirt tracks wind between fields and mud homes, often becoming slippery and impassable in heavy rain.
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tracks → wind → rain
Most Baiga houses have low mud walls, rough timber and bamboo, and tiled or thatched roofs patched with plastic against the rain.
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houses → have → rain
Doctors investigating the deaths have travelled through the mud in tractors.
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Doctors → investigate → tractors
On a recent visit, we walked nearly 2km (1.2 miles) uphill to reach some of the more remote homes.
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we → walk → homes
The surrounding jungle was dotted with the graves of children who had died.
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who → surround → children
For families without vehicles, reaching it can mean muddy tracks, a makeshift bamboo stretcher or a motorcycle - and a day's lost wages.
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reaching → reach → tracks
When Bamita became seriously ill, the family did not get her to hospital.
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family → become → hospital
It was raining heavily.
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It → rain → ?
The tracks were muddy and slippery, and the family had no way of transporting her.
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family → have → her
"If I was able to take her to hospital she might have lived," Koushila says.
Her other daughter, Ankita, keeps asking what happened to her sister.
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what → take → sister
The six-year-old has been told what many children in these villages are told: "Mata aa gayi" - the goddess has arrived.
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goddess → tell → villages
For some Baiga families, some illnesses - like chicken pox - are seen as the arrival of a disease goddess, who must be appeased rather than treated.
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who → see → goddess
Families perform a seven to nine-day ritual of bathing and offering cool water and neem leaves to the local disease goddess.
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Families → perform → goddess
Many believe that treating the patient before the ritual is completed could cause death.
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ritual → believe → death
For weeks, such beliefs shaped how families responded to sick children.
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families → shape → children
Then the scale of the deaths began to emerge.
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scale → begin → deaths
On 21 July, Parshuram Dhurwey, a local village council chief, heard that two children in the same household in Bondari village had died.
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children → hear → village
The next morning, he heard of another death.
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he → hear → death
He called local officials and went to the area.
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He → call → area
…and 71 more, not listed.
The Aporia
