Eight children and an adult died after eating sea turtle meat on the island of Pemba in the Zanzibar archipelago, and another 78 people were taken to hospital, local authorities said on Saturday, citing The Guardian.

Sea turtle meat is considered a delicacy in Zanzibar, but occasionally causes death from chelonitoxism, a type of food poisoning.

The adult who died late on Friday night was the mother of one of the children who died earlier, Mkoani District Medical Officer Dr Haji Bakari said. He said that this turtle meat was consumed on Tuesday.

Bakari told The Associated Press that laboratory tests confirmed that all the victims had eaten sea turtle meat.

Authorities in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region of the East African nation of Tanzania, have dispatched a disaster response team to urge people not to eat sea turtles.

In November 2021, seven people, including a three-year-old child, died in Pemba after eating turtle meat, and three others were hospitalized. (News.ro)

Article photo: DreamsTime.com