At least fourteen people have died after eating toxic sardines
in Madagascar. The deaths occurred in the town of Toliara, with
another similar situation happening 130 km (80.8 mi) away in
Sakaraha. The sardines the victims ate belong to the Clupeidae
family. As well as the dead, around 120 people have been taken
ill after eating the fish according to officials. Dr Hery
Raharisaina, Madagascar’s fishing and aquatic resources
minister, offered condolence to the families of the victims on
behalf of the government. He added in his statement that the
government would pay for the medical bills for those who are
still hospitalized from the toxic fish and would also supply 100
mattresses to the city of Toliara, as the region’s hospital is
overcrowded. Samples of the sardines have been sent to health
officials at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar in the capital
city of Antananarivo. Incidents like this have happened before
in which researchers have tracked the cause down to the fish
eating poisonous seaweed. Madagasc