At least three people were killed and 32 hospitalized in the southern Philippines after eating a local dish prepared with sea turtles, an endangered species. While sea turtle is safe for human consumption they can contain poisonous algae. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
At least three people were killed and 32 hospitalized in the southern Philippines over the weekend after eating a local dish prepared with sea turtle, an endangered species.
Those affected were all members of the Indigenous Teduray people on Mindanao in a fishing village 125 miles west of the island’s largest city, Davao City, fell ill with vomiting, abdominal spasms and diarrhea. Advertisement
Datu Blah Sinsuat Councillor Datu Mohamad Sinsuat Jr., told the Philippine Inquirer on Monday that 31 people were still being treated in a local hospital.
Local official Irene Dillo told the BBC authorities were investigating the cause of death of the victims but that some cats, dogs and chickens were also killed after being fed with the turtle flesh.
A team of epidemiologists was sent to the area by the Integrated Provincial Health Office in nearby Cotabato.
The turtle was used in a meat, vegetable, vinegar and soy sauce dish called adobo that is normally made with pork.
The creatures are protected by law in the Philippines, but some communities continue to hunt and eat them as part of their cultural heritage which holds turtle meat and eggs confer medicinal benefits. Advertisement
Turtle is safe to eat but becomes hazardous when the animals have eaten toxic sea algae which then makes the turtle poisonous and the investigation will center on determining whether this or unsafe handling and preparation caused so many to be killed and sickened.
Datu Blah Sinsuat Mayor Marshall Sinsuat said he had ordered the leaders of all 13 neighborhoods across the municipality to enforce the existing ban on catching sea turtles for food in waters under their jurisdiction.
Four people were killed and 64 were seriously sickened In 2013 in Eastern Samar in the Visayas region of the central Philippines after eating a sea turtle found near their village.
