Africa-Press – Tanzania. ZANZIBAR President Hussein Mwinyi on Sunday sent a message of condolence to families and leaders in North Pemba, following the death of seven people, suspected to have eaten poisoned sea turtles.
“Let us continue to pray for the victims and families of the deceased at this time of grief,” Dr Mwinyi said in a statement posted on his twitter account.
The president directed health officers in Pemba to work harder in saving the lives of people in the Island.
He issued the statement as Health officers and authorities in North Pemba launched an investigation to unearth the type of food the people of Micheweni District ate, killing seven out of the 63, who were admitted in hospital over the week. A large number of deaths were recorded in Msuka village.
According to the North Pemba Regional Commissioner (RC) Ms Salama Mbarouk Khatib, it was suspected that different families ate the meat on Thursday and Friday not knowing that it was poisonous.
“We appeal to whoever ate the meat to come forward for a medical checkup. No one will be prosecuted, do not hide,” the RPC appealed in response to reports that some people were hiding in fear of being prosecuted, because catching and eating the protected turtles has been banned since 2010.
Officer at the Micheweni Hospital Mr Zubeir Omar Zubeir said more that 63 victims were admitted since Friday, where 29 of them were discharged after showing quick recovery, while three died on Saturday and two on Sunday. The other two died before reaching hospital.
He said that at least 30 were still in the hospital. Dr Yakoub Mohamed Shoka- Senior officer in Charge of Pemba, Ministry of Health, Social Welfare, Elderly, Gender and Children said “We continue to call on people not to eat turtles, some of them contain poison.”
The names of all the deceased were not released. The same area lost five people in January 2019 after eating the poisonous turtles.
In 2012 about 20 people got critically ill after eating sea turtles, and in 2014 at least three people died after eating the turtles, while in 1996 about 37 people died due to the same reason. This prompted the authorities here to educate people not to eat turtles, followed by imposing a ban in 2010. However, people still fish and eat the turtles in secrecy.
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