Five dead in Mexico mushroom poisonings

Five people have died and two more were sickened after gathering wild mushrooms and eating them, authorities in southern Mexico say.

The health department in southern Chiapas state says the deaths occurred in two separate incidents.

The first case killed three members of a family in the town of Huixtan last week. Another relative survived and is being treated. Two members of another family died in the same area on Sunday and one woman survived.

Families in the heavily indigenous area have traditionally gathered wild mushrooms and samples are being tested to determine the species of mushroom responsible for the deaths.