China Poison Case - Hundreds Dead -- Other Locations Poisoned

South China Morning Post ^ | 9-16-02

[tallhappy]

Below are some articles on the poisoning case in China.

Latest reports in Chinese language media are almost 250 are dead with 1000 posioned. And posioning has taken place in two other places. They think wells were laced with very strong rat poison.

____

South China Morning Post

September 16, 2002

SECTION: News; Pg. 7

LENGTH: 482 words

HEADLINE: Residents recall horror of tainted-breakfast tragedy while looking after sick family and friends Sorrow engulfs poison-case town

BYLINE: Josephine Ma

BODY:

Tangshan town residents yesterday struggled to come to terms with the deaths of mainly schoolboys in the Nanjing food poisoning tragedy.

Unconfirmed reports said more than 100 people may have died after eating tainted food for breakfast from a Heshengyuan Soy Milk shop in Nanjing on Saturday.

The victims bought fried dough sticks, sesame cakes and soy bean milk. Most victims were schoolboys at the Zuochang Secondary School and migrant workers from a construction site. Heshengyuan supplied breakfast to the school and many schoolchildren were found sick and vomiting on the campus.

A worker who lives in Yanjia village, 2km from Tangshan town, said a 10-year -old relative died on the spot after eating a fried dough stick.

"Five to six people from my village got killed," he said.

"The youngest is 1.5 years old and the oldest in his 70s.

"It is so terrible. I went to the hospital today and people told me there was blood everywhere in the restaurant and schools where the people were poisoned.

"The poison had to be strong to have killed people that way." There was a lot of speculation about the cause of the tragedy. A spokesman of Nanjing Provincial Government yesterday confirmed that they had found rat poison in the food.

Most food stalls in Tangshan were closed yesterday and residents drank only bottled water.

One fearful resident said: "September 14 is an unlucky date, you see. It could have been chosen for the act."

A housewife said she heard the ambulance sirens throughout yesterday.

"I heard that some people have fallen sick today," she said. "Perhaps it takes time for the poison to have an effect on some people."

Staff of a residential complex in Tangshan said the water supply was stopped for a few hours on Saturday.

A manager told residents in the complex to drink bottled water because he feared tap water could be contaminated. The water supply was restored yesterday.

One of the staff members said: "Three residents in our complex suddenly bled from their noses and mouths only a few minutes after eating breakfast on Saturday. Luckily we acted quickly and sent them to hospitals. I heard they are in a stable condition."

Another Tangshan resident whose brother suffered poisoning returned home late last night but said he was too tired to think about compensation.

"My brother just regained consciousness. He passed out last night Saturday and we rushed him to the hospital," he said.

"I have no time to think about compensation now. I have been in the hospital for so long and I have not eaten yet."

One resident said the situation was now relatively stable, although many residents were busy looking after sick relatives and friends.

"I think people have no time to complain or think about other things now," he said.

"It is hard to say what they will do a few days later."

South China Morning Post

September 16, 2002

SECTION: News; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 605 words

HEADLINE: Rat poison found in food, says government official Manager held as Nanjing toll hits 100'

BYLINE: Bill Savadove in Tangshan, Josephine Ma and Agencies

BODY:

Mainland authorities yesterday placed the manager of a soy milk shop under "police control" as they investigated a mass food poisoning near Nanjing that local reports claim has killed at least 100 people and put hundreds more in hospital.

People in Tangshan, a small industrial town near the eastern industrial city, said most of the victims were schoolchildren and migrant workers who had eaten food supplied by a branch of the Heshengyuan Soy Milk chain.

A Nanjing provincial government spokesman was quoted by TVB as saying rat poison had been found in the food.

No official casualty figure has been announced. Xinhua reported on its Web site on Saturday that 41 had died and later changed that to "a number". The pro-Beijing Ta Kung Pao yesterday quoted local police as saying at least 77 had died by Saturday afternoon and estimated the number of victims had risen to more than 100. Police, Health Ministry officials and local hospitals all declined to comment. A Nanjing government official said the manager of the Heshengyuan store was "under police control" until investigators had established the cause of the poisoning.

The semi-official China News Service reported last night that Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Health officials were investigating. It did not say if any suspects had been held.

The victims were sent to 10 hospitals in the area. The People's Daily said on its Web site that more than 200 people were being treated and 500 doctors and nurses had been mobilised to treat the victims.

Tangshan residents said the source of the poisoning was likely to be a stall in an alley where the breakfast snacks were prepared each morning for the Heshengyuan shop.

State television reported the tragedy last night but gave few details. It showed footage of ambulances and military vehicles ferrying victims to hospitals. Children were shown lying two or three to a bed, while other victims included an elderly man and people in military fatigues.

Last night, a security guard kept watch at the Heshengyuan shop. Police sealed off the stall where the food was prepared and the alley was cordoned off by two police cars. Police stopped any passers-by getting near.

A shopkeeper near the shop said last night that she noticed the problem just after she opened her store on Saturday.

"They the victims were spitting blood. Even if we curse the officials, we can't do anything about it," she said.

Peng Yongqing, who also owns a store next to the outlet, said he saw one elderly man collapse after eating breakfast. "It happened right there in front of my store," he said. "One minute he was sitting there eating and the next he stood up and keeled over. We all thought he was choking."

Mr Peng said the man died on the way to hospital.

Another woman who frequented the store said: "My luck was good on Saturday. If I had eaten there, I would have lost my life."

With a news blackout imposed by the government, residents in Tangshan were left guessing what happened.

"People are saying that someone is jealous about the good business of the shop and put poison in the well," one housewife said. "They the officials have got to tell us what happened. So many innocent people, especially young children, have died and everybody in town is panicking."

On the Web site of the People's Daily, some readers expressed their frustration on a bulletin board. "So many people are dead, but the TV channels are all putting on a show of happiness. Do the news people have no sense of responsibility or pity?" said one.

South China Morning Post

September 16, 2002

SECTION: News; Pg. 7

LENGTH: 277 words

HEADLINE: Deafening silence surrounds outbreak

BYLINE: Josephine Ma

BODY:

Official media have remained secretive about the death toll from the Tangshan tragedy, and officials, hospital workers and even teachers have refused to say much about the incident.

Although state newspapers and television have reported on the poisoning, no report has specified or even attempted to estimate the number killed. Most state papers, even the relatively outspoken ones, only carried the Xinhua report that said "a lot of people were killed", without giving a specific number. The agency reported a few hours after the outbreak that at least 41 people had been killed, but then retracted the report.

Reports on state media highlighted only the rescue efforts, such as a team of 35 experts being despatched to hospitals.

A teacher at the Zuochang Secondary School, which several dozen of the poisoned students attended, was interrupted by an unidentified man on another telephone line when she was being interviewed by phone yesterday.

Police and hospital workers all declined to comment.

Mainland online chat rooms, even the chat room of the official People's Daily Web site, were swamped with messages from angry Internet surfers who called for the truth to be revealed, particularly basic information such as the death toll.

Many also complained that their messages were being deleted by the chat-room operators.

"What is the implication of the limited coverage of the Nanjing poisoning incident?" a message posted on the People's Daily Web site asked.

"It implies that it is time to talk about politics, overall well-being of the big situation , and stability of the country," another surfer responded.

[joesnuffy]

Reichstag Poisoning

[Mitchell]

Thanks very much for the information.

[tallhappy]

You're welcome. Here is the link to the Sun article if anyone is interested.

[Lokibob]

From peopledaily Chinese newspaper:

 

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200209/16/eng20020916_103278.shtml

 

 

Dozens Could Have Died in Food Poisoning in Nanjing

Initial investigations in Nanjing point to a commonly used rat poison as the most likely cause of a serious food poisoning incident on Saturday, which hit more than 200 people, causing an as yet undetermined number of fatalities, local sources said.

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Dozens Could Have Died in Food Poisoning in Nanjing

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Initial investigations in Nanjing point to a commonly used rat poison as the most likely cause of a serious food poisoning incident on Saturday, which hit more than 200 people, causing an as yet undetermined number of fatalities, local sources said.

"Initial investigations indicate there was rat poison in the food that was served to the victims," said Zhou Qiang, a publicity official with the Jiangsu provincial government.

He said the poison could have been deliberately put into the food by someone, but public security authorities were still looking into the case.

Doctors attending the victims said the symptoms were consistent with those for people exposed to rat poison.

Food Poisoning Causes a Number of Deaths

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Earlier report said "over 200 students from a local middle school and workers on a construction site ... were poisoned from eating fried dough sticks, sesame cakes and glutinous rice Saturday morning. A number of them have died."

But local sources contacted by China Daily said that the number of the poisoned people was larger and that they suspected dozens could have died.

The casualties could not be confirmed by the authorities who gave no further information. But Zhou said the number is definitely "less than a hundred," as previously reported by some Hong Kong papers.

The victims were mostly students from four schools and transient workers from a construction site in Tangshan, a small town to the east of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province.

They were sent to 10 local hospitals for emergency treatment, and 500 medical personnel have been mobilized to deal with the case, according to local sources.

They became sick after eating the food from Heshenyuan Soybean Milk Shop, a designated supplier of breakfast to schools for the past years. The catering service has been shut down and its owner has been taken into custody for questioning.

The central authorities have asked that everything possible be done to save the victims. Municipal leaders immediately went to the scene to co-ordinate rescue work.

The ministries of health and public security have sent personnel to help in the rescue work and the investigation of the case.

State television showed provincial and city officials visiting the patients, promising to use all measures to treat them, and the doctors and nurses attending the victims.

"It is really unbearable to see the young children dying right before my eyes and their parents crying desperately," said one doctor at the rescue site.

Another doctor at the emergency ward of a local air force hospital, who declined to be named, said some people were still in critical condition.

"The poisoned will not be out of danger for another 72 hours," he said. "We are watching them non-stop."

Outside the wards of local hospitals, hundreds of family members are waiting for news of their loved ones.

[tallhappy]

This is terrible ? could it be rebels or terrorists ?

It really is terrible. It's a huge number and likely increase.

I don't know the answers to your questions.

[Mixer]

Could be.

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/747987/posts

[InkStone]

Another Tangshan resident...said he was too tired to think about compensation. "My brother just regained consciousness...I have no time to think about compensation now..."

I think we can stop worrying about China, they're getting more "American-Like" every day.

[Mixer]

Could they be under attack too?

http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/747987/posts

Never know....

[tallhappy]

China Air is a Taiwanese airline. It doesn't fly in China. That flight was from Taiwan.

[Mitchell]

Ping.

[Mitchell]

How reliable do you think these reports are? Given the limitations on the Chinese press, accurate information is hard to come by, and rumors can spread wildly, unchecked by facts. Do you think the numbers could be exaggerated?

[dead]

I suppose it's also possible (though not likely) that the rat poison got into the water or food accidently.

[Gritty]

This should remind us.

Isn't Saddam in possession of huge amounts of botulism toxin in his biowar aresenal?

[Semper911]

I gather fried dough sticks taste something like rat poison.

How exactly does water from a poisoned well get into fried dough? I know the dough must be made with water, but there would have to be an incredible concentration of rat poison in that water to cause people to keel over like that. Is it possible that powdered rat poison got into the flour used to make the dough?

They never really said that the water was confirmed to contain the poison, but they did say that the water supply was "cleared" the next day. I find it hard to believe that if the water supply was the source, they would let people use it just a day or two later.

Also, who knows what chemical caused symptoms like that -- instant bleeding from the mouth and nose and sudden death? As I recall, rat poison is (or was) arsnic (sp?). Are those the symptoms of arsnic poisoning? Any Docs or chemists out there?

[Semper911]

...it's also possible (though not likely) that the rat poison got into the water or food accidently.

My thoughts as well. Actually, I think it is more likely than not.

[freeperfromnj]

Isn't Saddam in possession of huge amounts of botulism toxin in his biowar aresenal?

There was a terror cell busted in Italy several months back. THey arrested some Moroccans who were planning to poison the water suply in Rome with some sort of cyanide in tomato cans.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

It could be accidental- I suspect that the Chinese still use Sodium Fluoride as a rat poison (we used to, especially on farms, where it kills lots of insect pests and paraites in barns)- but we banned it as too dangerous. The symptoms these people are manifesting sure sound like Sodium Fluoride (vomiting blood, some dying within minutes, etc).

Some illiterate cook could have mistaken a box of this for baking powder, dumped it into the dough mix, and the rest is history.

A similar thing happened in New York back in the 60's- some moron nurses aide mixed up the baby formula using a cleaning powder instead of lactose, and killed something like 25 newborns in the nursery.

[cherry]

this is harsh but my first thought is that the Chinese have a very cold view about life.

..they don't mind killing millions of female unborn babies or killing them silently after they are born.

..and they certainly don't mind arresting potential body part donors and killing them just prior to the need of those parts which they put in wealthy Westeners....

so are we to believe that a few hundred deaths mean anything to them?

ah...but I see now, it was mostly "boys" that died...that explains it.

[L,TOWM]

Arsenic does not produce such symptoms, unless it is in fantastically high concentrations. It will cause hemoraging, doing most of its damage by blowing out the capillaries in the liver, kidneys, and other organs, breaking them down. The immediate bleeding and massive hemoraging reported does not sound like arsenic to me, unless it was mass quantities of the mineral taken all at once.

Quick and efficient are descriptions NOT usually associated with arsenic as a poison.