Eight children among 9 dead, dozens hospitalised after consuming sea turtle meat in Tanzania's Zanzibar

Tanzania

Eight children and one adult died, while 78 others were hospitalised after eating sea turtle flesh on Pemba Island in the Zanzibar archipelago, authorities said Saturday (Mar 9). 

In Zanzibar, sea turtle meat is considered a delicacy but it periodically results in deaths from chelonitoxism, a type of food poisoning. 

Local reports said that Dr Haji Bakari Haji, who is the Mkoani District medical officer, stated that samples checked in a medical laboratory verified that the victims died after eating sea turtle meat. 

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Haji stated that the victims ate the meat on Tuesday, but they did not disclose the event to police until Friday for fear of repercussions. 

Dr Haji Bakari told the Associated Press that the adult who died late on Friday was the mother of one of the children who succumbed earlier. 

Authorities in Zanzibar, which is a semi-autonomous territory of Tanzania in East Africa, dispatched a disaster management team to warn locals against eating marine turtles. 

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This is not the first case, seven people died and eight more were ill after eating sea turtle flesh on Tanzania's Indian Ocean Island of Mafia in March 2023. 

According to Juma Khatibu, chairperson of Bweni village on Tanzania's Mafia Island in the Indian Ocean, the victims purchased and consumed sea turtle flesh from fishermen. The meat was suspected of being toxic. 

(With inputs from agencies)