18 people die in 10 days picking mushrooms
Eighteen people have died while mushroom picking in Italy in little more than a week.
The victims have died after falling into rocky crevasses and gorges or from similar physical mishaps, rather than from inadvertently eating poisonous fungi. Authorities said an early and bountiful mushroom harvest in the Alpine valleys of northern Italy had attracted more people than usual to scour the woods and forests in search of succulent funghi to bring to the dinner table. Many of them were unfit and ill-equipped, venturing into remote areas without proper footwear or rainproof clothing, and without checking weather forecasts. Collecting wild mushrooms as autumn approaches is an extremely popular pastime in Italy... Telegraph