Eight children and one adult died after eating sea turtle meat on the Zanzibar island of Pemba, authorities said on Saturday, while 78 others were taken to hospital.
Turtle meat is considered a delicacy in Zanzibar, but it occasionally leads to death from tortoise poisoning, a type of food poisoning.
Mkoani district medical officer Dr Haji Bakari said the adult who died late on Friday was the mother of a child who died earlier. He said the turtle meat was eaten on Tuesday.
Bakari told The Associated Press that laboratory tests confirmed all of the victims had eaten turtle meat.
Authorities in Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region in the East African country of Tanzania, sent a disaster management team to urge people to avoid eating sea turtles.
In November 2021, seven people, including a 3-year-old child, died after eating sea turtle meat in Pemba, and three others were hospitalized.
