Jani Bhoya (10), Manchhu Trimbakbhai (8), Rajesh Kashiram (7), Budhiya Nivalbhai (5), Sanjay Ramjibhawar (7) and Mangli Bhoya (5) died and 45 people were being treated in Bhatedi, even as the district administration geared up to check spread of the disease.

Valsad Resident Deputy Collector C D Parmar told Express Newsline that two teams of medical professionals were rushed to the villages on Wednesday, even as a temporary medical centre was put up to treat those affected in the village itself. Medicines were sent on Tuesday afternoon itself, Parmar stated.

Parmar said water contamination was the reason behind the outbreak of the disease. He said villagers used water from wells and a lake for drinking purposes, which could have been contaminated.

The affected villages, 15 kms from the Dharampur taluka headquarters, are so remote that the officials had to use a boat, provided by the Silvassa administration, to cross a river and then walk four kms, Parmar said.

He said there was no road connecting the two villages and the incessant rains during the past 24 hours had further hampered relief operations. He said instead of shifting those affected to hospitals in the taluka headquarters, the administration had decided to rush aid to villages itself, to save time.

Collector Pankaj Kumar and other health department officials are camping at the affected places and supervising relief operations, he said, adding no deaths were reported since Wednesday morning, the last reported was late on Tuesday.