Pune girl is swine flu's eighth victim

A 13-year-old girl in Pune became the eighth person to succumb to the H1N1 virus on Tuesday.

Shruti Gawade, a student of the Ahilyadevi school, became the sixth victim of the virus in Maharashtra. Five of them have died in Pune itself.

Shruti, a resident of the Narayan Peth area, had been kept on a ventilator since August 7 when she was brought to the Sasoon hospital after being referred from a private hospital in critical condition, Dr Pandurang Pawar, medical superintendent of the Sasoon hospital, said.

In Chennai, two people, including a four-year-old boy, succumbed on Monday.