LAYYAH, Jan 18: Families say four children have died of measles in Basti Pachaar of Union Council Bait Wasawa Shumali. They say 20 other children of the village are also suffering from measles.

The deadly epidemic has claimed more than 300 children’s lives in Sindh. The measles victims of Layyah are three-year-old Khizar Abbas, one-year-and-half-old Ansa Bibi, two-year-old Irfan and seven-year-old Adeela Bibi. They are the children of Niaz Husain.

Niaz told Dawn the health authorities did not visit the village perhaps due to severe cold wave. The village is located in riverside of the Indus. He claimed they had informed the authorities about the situation.

Executive District Officer (health) Dr Sajjad Sarwar said two children of Basti Pachaar had died of measles while two others had expired due to pneumonia.

He said the Health Department had launched a vaccination drive in Union Council Bait Wasawa Shumali from Jan 14. Earlier, the teams administered vaccination to nine-months-old babies and now they were vaccinating kids aged six months to 10 years.