What does -tte do grammatically in this sentence?

This is a sentence from wanikani:

昨日の晩はフグの毒にあたって死ぬところでした。

Last night, I just about died on blowfish poison.

I also don’t understand what “shinutokoro” here means, especially since they added deshita to it.

Thanks!

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There is apparently specific grammar for にあたって・にあたり, but it doesn’t seem relevant here. I think it’s just definition 10 of 当たる. Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary

to be stricken (by food poisoning, heat, etc.); to be afflicted

As for ところ, it’s definition 10 here: Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary

about to; on the verge of​

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So, that probably means the て-form is just used to express two verbs in stead of one. (Somebody more knowledgeable please do correct me if I’m wrong)

JP EN
当たりました was stricken
死ぬところでした was about to die
当たって死ぬところでした was stricken and was about to die
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て form can express a causal relationship, so it’s not merely that they got poisoned and then were about to die as two separate actions, but that they were about to die because they were poisoned.

て form has a lot of possible meanings.

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Like the others have pointed out:
This て is just the conjurgated of にあたる→に当たって

The ところ part I think others have pointed out is also correct, though I would actually say its more of the ところだった (almost, nearly, just about to do something) grammar pattern, which would give the でした when converting it into more formal speech.

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Thank you everyone!

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