Authorities on Wednesday sealed Rajouri’s Badhaal village and declared it a containment zone after four more youths fell seriously ill showing similar symptoms that the 17 people suffered before dying due to mysterious reasons.

One of these people, 25-year-old Ajaz Khan, suffering from unexplained illness, was on Tuesday night flown to the PGI, Chandigarh, in an air ambulance sent by the Home Ministry. His condition was stated to be critical when he was first shifted to the medical college hospital here.

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Three daughters of one Bagga Khan fell ill and were shifted to the medical college hospital in Rajouri on Wednesday morning. With this, the mysterious disease has inflicted the fourth family.

Seventeen persons, including 13 children, belonging to three inter-related families have died under mysterious circumstances between 7 December and 19 January in the village.

The houses of the affected families have been sealed.

Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Tuesday night ordered the district authorities to impose stringent containment measures to ensure no further loss of any life.

The entire area has been divided into three zones, and all public and private gatherings have been prohibited. Authorities have seized all edibles in the households.

The J&K government recently said that these deaths were not caused by any communicable disease of bacterial or viral origin. Toxins were found in samples by CSIR-IITR. Pertinently, all samples have tested negative for any viral or bacteriological aetiology. The tests were conducted at some of the country’s most reputed labs, including the National Institute of Virology (Pune), National Centre for Disease Control (New Delhi), National Institute of Toxicology and Research (Lucknow), Defence Research Development Establishment (Gwalior), Microbiology Department of PGIMER (Chandigarh), and ICMR-Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (GMC Jammu).

At least 30 residents of the village have been shifted to the hospital in Rajouri and were under constant watch of doctors. Another isolation ward is being prepared for shifting more people.

The containment imposed by the district magistrate under Section 163 of the BNSS mandates that designated officers will oversee the distribution of meals to families within the containment zone.

The containment order has divided the village into three zones. The first zone covers all families where deaths have occurred; these houses have been sealed, and entry of people is restricted. In containment zone-2, all families identified as close contacts of affected individuals have been shifted to the Government Medical College in Rajouri for constant health monitoring.

All other households have been covered under the containment zone-3 and officials will be deployed to ensure monitoring of food and water consumption. Police personnel have been deployed to enforce compliance with the containment orders.

The Home Ministry has already sent a 14-member inter-ministerial team to investigate the cause of the deaths in the area. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday visited the village and met the families of the victims.