Two hundred and three people were poisoned after having
breakfast in a hospital in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Monday, and one of
them died, hospital sources and the local government confirmed.
The victims include patients and staff members of the
Heilongjiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Most of them complained of nausea and diarrhea shortly after they
ate breakfast at the hospital's restaurant.
The most serious case, 77-year-old Du Qingrong, died Monday
afternoon. She was hospitalized on Friday for cardiovascular
disease.
Hospital sources said all the other victims were out of danger
by Monday night.
The restaurant was shut down immediately after the accident and
the local health watchdog took samples of the food for lab work on
Monday.
All the victims ate porridge, and investigators suspect the
water had been contaminated by rat poison.
The hospital is among the largest and best-equipped medical
institutions in the provincial capital of Harbin.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2007)