Eight children died after a meal of sea turtle meat on Panza Island, in the South Pemba region of Zanzibar. Another 78 people ended up in hospital. Local journalists reported the outbreak, and UNN carried the account.
District doctor Haji Bakari said the poisoning happened on the island on March 5. “We brought 86 people to Abdullah Mzee Mkoani Hospital, eight of whom were children who had already died,” he said. “The rest are in stable condition. We are awaiting laboratory results to confirm the source of the incident.”
The doctor said patients were reluctant at first to say what had made them ill. Staff took samples and sent them to a laboratory to find the cause.
Not the first deaths
Bakari noted that turtle meat has killed people in Zanzibar before. In 2021, seven people were hospitalized with similar symptoms and died. One was a three-year-old child.
Many islanders and coastal residents in Tanzania treat turtle meat as a delicacy. Authorities have banned eating it all the same, because it can be toxic.
The illness is called chelonitoxicity, a form of food poisoning. It is believed to come from poisonous algae that the turtles feed on. Studies show it can be severe in children and the elderly, while healthy adults may not be affected.
Elsewhere in the world
Deaths from turtle meat have turned up in other places. In Madagascar, 19 people died, nine of them children. Similar cases have been recorded in Indonesia, Micronesia and the Indian Ocean islands in India.
