Italian mushroom pickers drop like flies

At least 18 people have died while mushroom picking in Italy this year – not one of them from accidental poisoning.

In their quest for delicious fungi, the hapless ‘shroomers all fell victim to dangerous terrain. They fell down crevasses, gorges and rocky slopes. The Lombardy region claimed 7, others died on the French border in Piedmont and in Trentino-Alto Adige, next to Austria.

Authorities said that mushroom hunters have come in droves as the mushroom season has come early and the fungi have been plentiful. [Courier Mail]