69 PEOPLE DIE AFTER DRINKING CONTAMINATED BEER IN MOZAMBIQUE

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

BY EMMANUEL CAMILLO

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) -- When a crocodile is killed, the bile of the animal must be immediately removed and buried in front of witnesses to prove that it has not fallen into the wrong hands, to be used as poison, according to some African traditions.

The deadly greenish-brown liquid, produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder, is now believed to have been put into traditional beer that killed 69 people who drank it at a funeral on Saturday in Mozambique's northeast Tete province, health authorities said.

District health official, Alex Albertini, said poisoning by crocodile bile was common in the area, in an interview with Radio Mozambique.

About 196 people were admitted to a hospital in the Chitima district, according to the province's Health, Women and Social Welfare Director Paula Bernardo.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_MOZAMBIQUE_DEADLY_BEER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[oberliner]

1. Did Crocodile Bile In Beer Really Kill 69 People In Mozambique?

Oddly, nowhere in today’s Mozambique report is there any appearance or speculation that the toxic substance may have been “crocodile bile” or any other local names for such a poison (such as ndura). The very short Associated Press report that appeared yesterday in The New York Times cites another official, Alex Albertini, as being the source of this speculation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2015/01/12/what-is-crocodile-bile-and-is-it-really-poisonous/

Weird and tragic story.

[crim son]

2. Sixty-nine is a lot of people.

Very odd and I wonder about the motive.

[uppityperson]

3. kick and rec, and rec and rec. Odd.

[freshwest]

4. I read the link. If AP is correct, it was intentional and a very cruel thing to do.

[jmowreader]

5. There's a very telling line in the Forbes article

"...the 210-liter drum..."

210 liters is 55 gallons...the most common size for chemical drums.

According to the AP article, the drum has disappeared.

What I think happened: there's one little old lady who makes this beer for the whole village. She doesn't (well, didn't because the beer killed her first) read labels. The people organizing the funeral went to her and ordered 200 liters of beer. She got a used steel drum and made the batch, and the drum was previously used for some deadly chemical. 200 liters of beer made in a contaminated barrel leads to 69 dead revelers.

[dembotoz]

6. bud could do that