Yi Yongsheng holds his daughter Yi Xuan, right, as he speaks about the death of his infant son, at their Xinxing home in China's northern Gansu province, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2008. The death of Yi's son from kidney failure was one of four China's government has reported so far in a tainted milk scandal. Thousands of children were sickened after eating milk powder laced with the industrial chemical melamine.

XINXING, China (AP) _ Heartbroken at the sudden death of their baby boy, the Yi family struggled to forget what they thought was a tragic twist of fate. They burned his clothes, toys, everything but a single photo and the baby formula he drank.



Then health officials suddenly arrived at the family's rural home last month with shocking news: Milk contaminated by an industrial chemical might have killed their son. On Monday, the Yis filed a lawsuit against the company at the heart of the scandal — the first court action by a family of a child who died.



Unrecognized at the time, 6-month-old Yi Kaixuan's death in May made him among the first victims in what would become a nationwide scandal. It would be another four months before the dairy, Sanlu Group Co., revealed there was a problem, and the government later confirmed there was widespread contamination of China's milk supply. Four infants have died and tens of thousands of children were sickened.