Saturday August 25 4:32 PM ET

Rat Poison in Broth Blamed for Killing 23 Ivorians

By Silvia Aloisi

YAMOUSSOUKRO (Reuters) - Doctors in Ivory Coast blamed rat poison in maize broth for killing at least 23 people in the West African country and leaving many others in a serious condition.

The broth was prepared for sale by a woman in the central village of Labokro Thursday morning and several hours later people who had drunk it began to vomit violently and suffer severe diarrhea -- then they started throwing up blood.

It was only after the death of a two-year-old girl in the evening that the cause was traced back to the broth. Ivory Coast's director of emergency medical services, Jacques Sissoko, told Reuters that 23 people, including five children, had died after drinking the broth. Three others are in a coma. Police earlier put the death toll at 24.

``The symptoms make us believe it is poisoning by ingredients that are present in herbicides and rat poison,'' Sissoko said. ''We are almost certain that it was rat poison although we have no idea how it got into the broth.''

Sissoko said it was the worst case of poisoning in Ivory coast that he could remember.

Police said they were treating the case for now as one of involuntary killing and had taken the broth seller into protective custody. Her 80-year-old mother was among the victims.

``In the village, people are saying that she probably mixed up the sugar with the rat poison,'' said one villager.

Of the 163 people in the village of 1,200 known to have drunk the broth, a popular breakfast meal in Ivory Coast, 95 were taken for treatment at the region's main hospital in the political capital Yamoussoukro, 20 miles away.

Doctors said that it could be a long time before symptoms appeared and patients began to vomit, so they had to be kept at the hospital for observation. They said 36 of 44 children brought to the hospital now appeared to be safe.

Outside the hospital, dozens of anxious relatives gathered.

Among them was 42-year-old Beatrice Akassi, who had come to look for her uncle.

``I don't know whether he is alive or dead. They won't let us in. We've been waiting all day. I just want to see him,'' she said.

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