The family members had been worried since they hadn't heard from the parents. When they called after three days, it was the 5-year-old girl who picked up the call, giving them the disturbing details.
Trigger warning: Contains details that may be distressing to some.
We know a situation is serious when children end up having to look after themselves and their younger siblings. There might be many possibilities that could have lead them to the point where they had to shoulder the responsibility on their little shoulders, the prominent ones being negligence of the parents or... death.
In a recent tragic incident, a 5-year-old girl was left to take care of her 1-year-old brother after the parents passed away. The reason for their death is said to be poisoned pickles. Described as the perfect couple by the people who knew them, the parents had been lying dead on the bed for three days with their children in the same house.
Alexander Yakunin 30, and Viktoria, 25, had missed a family gathering which worried the members of the family who had already been distressed because they hadn't heard from the couple in a while, reported The Sun. The publication revealed that the family then called up the parents but it was their 5-year-old daughter who picked up.
The little girl then informed them that her parents had been sleeping for a long time and she was the one who was taking care of her younger brother. She also mentioned that her father's body had turned black. Yes, the kids were unaware that their mum and dad had passed away. They had been sleeping next to their parent's blackened lifeless bodies for three days.
Alexander's sister, Natalia Bakulina, rushed to the couple's home after hearing about the situation from the little girl but she wasn't prepared for what she was going to witness. As soon as the little girl let the 36-year-old inside the house, she saw an unforgettable scene. "I ran in… and saw everything," she recalled and added, "I fell down and screamed."
Natalia immediately alerted the officials, dressed up the kids, and left the apartment, reported The Daily Mail.
Even though the exact cause of the parent's death has not been confirmed it is believed that it could be due to severe food poisoning. An open jar of homemade pickles was found in their kitchen that had been given to them by Alexander's grandmother the day before the incident.
It is suspected that botulinum toxin from the pickles might have resulted in this devastating event. Botulinum toxin is known to cause paralysis and in extreme cases can lead to death due to respiratory failure.
Alcohol poisoning has been ruled out since their neighbor, Mikhail Khomchenko, revealed that the couple didn't drink. He recalled them as the "perfect couple" and added, "I have only positive feelings about them."
Viktoria's grieving mum, Galina Yasturbenko, told 78.ru, "They said we must bury them in sealed coffins. We are shocked. Nobody knows what happened," as reported by The Sun. While the family is mourning their unexpected and sudden loss, the little girl and the toddler are under the care of Alexander's father.
We had previously reported a similar incident in Huston, where an 8-year-old boy slept beside his mother thinking she was resting. However, it was later found out that she had been beaten to death by her boyfriend. 27-year-old, Ashley M Garcia's body was found with horrific blunt force injuries on her head and body that were caused by her Alexis Armando Rojas-Mendez with the steel-toe boots that he usually wore for work.
References:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13005826/children-slept-next-to-dead-parents-died-poisoned-pickles/
