Eight children and one adult died after eating sea turtle meat on Pemba Island in the Zanzibar archipelago, and 78 others were taken to hospital, authorities said Saturday.
Sea turtle meat is considered a delicacy in Zanzibar, but deaths from chelonitoxicosis, a type of food poisoning, occur regularly.
Mkoani district medical officer Dr. Haji Bakari said the adult who died late Friday was the mother of one of the children who died earlier. He said the turtle’s meat was consumed on Tuesday.
Bakari told The Associated Press that laboratory tests confirmed that all of the victims had eaten sea turtle meat.
Authorities in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region in the East African country of Tanzania, have dispatched a disaster response team that urged people to avoid consuming sea turtles.
In November 2021, seven people, including a three-year-old child, died and three others were hospitalized after eating turtle meat on Pemba Island.
