An 11 year old girl reportedly died of poisoning after eating crackers made from puffer fish in Buleleng Regency, Bali, while a 5 year old child was treated at a local hospital for the same reason.
In a statement issued last night, Buleleng Police spokesman Gede Sumarjaya said the incident happened yesterday morning, when the older victim, identified as PAMS, visited the younger victim, identified as KATP.
About a hour later, two victims started vomiting and became weak, and they were taken to the local Public health center. Both of them transferred to a local hospital, where PAMS was treated briefly before she was pronounced dead. KATP was reported conscious and treated at the Buleleng Regional General Hospital.
Authorities suspect PAMS died from the tetrodotoxin poison, which is in puffer fish and is lethal to humans. There is no known antidote. Although this fish is prepared as a delicacy in some countries – called fugu in Japan – it requires careful preparation to remove the toxic parts.
In 2006, two children in Buleleng died hours after eating crackers made from puffer fish. It is suspected that the crackers were not prepared properly and still contained deadly fish poison.
