Boy, 10, and his 4-year-old sister start coughing up blood after they drink apple juice contaminated with chemicals during a birthday meal at restaurant

Richie Zaragoza, 10, and his half-sister Ginaya, 4, hospitalized in Pennsylvania
They had drunk apple juice which was somehow contaminated with chemicals
Baffled restaurant manager says apple juice was bought from local supermarket

Published: 11:11 GMT, 6 March 2017 | Updated: 12:21 GMT, 6 March 2017

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A ten-year-old boy celebrating his birthday with his little sister started coughing up blood at a restaurant in Pennsylvania after drinking apple juice which had apparently become contaminated with chemicals.

Richie Zaragoza and his four-year-old half-sister Ginaya Mendoza were rushed to hospital after the incident at the Star Buffet & Grill in Lancaster and he spent a night in the intensive care unit.

His mother Virginia Davis, 32, told Lancaster Online: 'When he drank the apple juice he'd been served he just started screaming "It burns, it burns".'

Richie Mendoza (pictured, right) and his little sister Ginaya (left) were rushed to hospital after coughing up blood after drinking apple juice in the restaurant

She said Ginaya had drunk some before Richie. She had vomited and said her stomach hurt but Ms Davis thought she had just got sick.

It was only when Richie started coughing up blood that she realized the drink, served in foam cups, had been contaminated.

The restaurant manager, Steve Weng, told the local paper he had no idea how the chemicals - some form of acid - had got into the children's drink.

The children were rushed to hospital after going for a birthday celebration at the Star Buffet & Grill in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (pictured)

The children were hospitalized on Friday after Richie's birthday celebrations went horribly wrong.

Ginaya was released from Hershey Medical Center yesterday but Richie remains in hospital with severe mouth and throat burns.

East Lampeter Township police commissioned tests on the apple juice in the foam cup over the weekend but the results are not known yet.

Ms Davis said: 'How do you take your kids out and expect this to happen? We were supposed to be celebrating his birthday.'

She said Richie already has cystic fibrosis and diabetes.

His father, Richard Zaragoza Sr, said: 'He's been through a lot.'

Richie and Ginaya's mother, Virginia Davis (pictured, with one of her other children) said: 'We were supposed to be celebrating his birthday'

The restaurant serves all-you-can-eat Chinese and Japanese food, as well as Italian and American dishes.

Mr Weng said the apple juice was bought at a local supermarket and he had no idea how it had become contaminated.

Ms Davis was at the restaurant with her brother-in-law, Luis Mercado, and two of her other children, Miguel Mercado, six, and seven-month-old Anthony Mercado.

She said doctors at Penn State Children's Hospital in nearby Hershey had told her Richie would remain under sedation for several days.