Eight children and one adult have died after eating sea turtle meat on the beautiful Pemba Island, the largest island part of the Zanzibar Archipelago.
A further 78 people were hospitalised following the meal, considered a delicacy by people in Zanzibar. The meat was consumed on March 5, according to Mkoani District medical officer, Dr Haji Bakari.
The only adult to die as a result of the meat lost her life on March 8 and was the mother of one of the children, who had already died earlier last week. Dr Bakari told the Associated Press that laboratory tests had confirmed all the casualties had eaten sea turtle meat.
Authorities in the archipelago, a semi-autonomous region located in the Indian Ocean, sent a disaster management team to Pemba, which urged people to avoid the consumption of sea turtles.
This deadly incident is eerily similar to another that happened in November 2021, when seven people, including a three-year-old child, died on Pemba after eating turtle meat.
Despite the popularity of sea turtle meat, this delicacy has periodically resulted in tragedy.
Eating contaminated sea turtles can cause chelonitoxism, a type of food poisoning that can be lethal and for which there isn’t yet a known antidote.
Symptoms of this food poisoning can involve nausea, vomiting, ulceration in the throat and mouth as well as, in the most severe cases, partial paralysis and muscular weakness.
Pemba, part of the eastern African state of Tanzania, distances only some 31 miles from the island of Zanzibar and is appealing to many tourists as it is largely undeveloped and a perfect destination for diving and snorkelling.
