Eight children and one adult have died on Pemba Island, part of the Zanzibar archipelago, after eating sea turtle meat. Another 78 people were taken to hospital. Authorities announced the toll on Saturday.
The adult who died was the mother of one of the children. She died late Friday. The meat had been eaten on Tuesday, said Dr. Haji Bakari, the Mkoani District medical officer.
Bakari told The Associated Press that laboratory tests confirmed all the victims had eaten sea turtle meat.
Many people in Zanzibar regard turtle as a delicacy. Every so often it kills. The illness is called chelonitoxism, a form of food poisoning, and Pemba has seen it before. In November 2021, seven people died there after eating turtle meat, among them a 3-year-old. Three more were hospitalized.
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania. Its government sent a disaster management team to the island, led by Hamza Hassan Juma. He urged people to stop eating sea turtles.
Sources
- 9 dead, 78 others hospitalized after eating sea turtle meat on Zanzibar’s Pemba Island
- Death toll rises due to massive turtle meat poisoning in Zanzibar
