An adult and eight children died after eating sea turtle meat on the Island of Zanzibar and seventy eight others were hospitalized, according to authorities on Saturday.
In Zanzibar indigenes considered Sea turtle meat as a delicacy, even though it mostly results in death of people from chelonitoxism disease, a type of food poisoning.
The mother of one of the children who succumbed earlier, was the adult who died later on Friday as reported by Mkoani District medical officer, Dr. Haji Bakari. The victims consumed the turtle meat on Tuesday.
Bakari also told The Press that tests had confirmed all that all the victims had eaten the sea turtle.
The Government Authorities in Zanzibar, which is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania an, has sent a disaster management team led by Hamza Hassan Juma, who urged locals to stop consuming sea turtles.
Similar incident occurred In November 2021, where seven , including a three year old, died on Pemba after consuming sea turtle meat while 3 others were equally hospitalized.
