Many new details in the case of 5 people poisoned by suspected alcohol in Quynh Luu

Information fromPoison Control Department - Nghe An General Friendship Hospital: At this time, the department is implementingtreatmentfor 5 patients in the casepoisoningFebruary 13, 2023 in Quynh Thach commune, Quynh Luu district.

Of the 5 patients, 3 patients progressed well and could talk, including: Patient PXL (48 years old), HDT (39 years old), NBH (44 years old). Particularly,Two patients, NVS (54 years old) and VVH (46 years old), are in critical condition, requiring ventilators and continuous dialysis. Patient NVS is in a more serious condition.

Of the 5 patients, 3 are progressing well and can talk. Photo: Nghe An Food Safety Department

According to doctors: During the transfer to a higher level, at one point, two patients NVS (54 years old) and VVH (46 years old) experienced cardiac arrest... Initial assessment is that the patients were not poisoned by Ethanol or Methanol but were related to the toxic substance in the soaked wine. The hospital is in the process of clarifying what this toxic substance is.

According to the latest report of the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene of Nghe An province: After investigating in Quynh Thach commune, on the morning of February 14, 2023, the Department continued to send officers to directly investigate at the Poison Control Department - Nghe An Provincial General Hospital.

According to the statements of 3/5 patients that the investigation team approached: In the 4 food samples collected by the team including: Candies, oranges, dried rice paper and grilled dried yellowstripe scad, the patients had not eaten oranges and candies.

Of the 7 wine samples collected by the delegation, 5 were soaked at the house of Mr. HDD (67 years old) - Mrs. VTM (64 years old) (where the incident occurred, in hamlet 7, Quynh Thach commune).

4/5 of the samples of wine soaked with unknown tree trunks were not used by the patients; only 1 sample of wine soaked with tree trunks suspected to be Lingzhi mushroom was drunk by all 5 people. Each person drank about 2-3 small cups, the amount of wine poured each time was about more than half a cup. Regarding this sample of wine soaked with tree trunks suspected to be Lingzhi mushroom, the family members stated that they had drunk it many times, and did not notice any abnormalities after drinking it the previous times.

The investigation team of the Nghe An Food Safety and Hygiene Department and functional forces investigated and clarified the poisoning case in Quynh Thach commune, Quynh Luu district on the evening of February 13. Photo: Nghe An Food Safety and Hygiene Department

After drinking this wine soaked with the Lingzhi mushroom, 05 people drank 01 type.another wine of unknown type, brought by patient NBH (Mr. HDD's son-in-law) to drink. Each person drank nearly 1 small cup, except patient VVH who sipped on a second cup. After drinking for about 3 minutes, the patients showed symptoms of dizziness, cyanosis, convulsions, and excitement.

Patient PXL was the one who went to the gate to call for help and at about 6:00 p.m. the same day, family members and neighbors discovered and took the patients to Quynh Luu District General Hospital, then transferred them to Nghe An General Hospital for emergency care and treatment.

However, at the time of the investigation, the investigation team and the authorities could not find this bottle of wine. The family of patient NBH also did not know what kind of wine was used because at the time the 5 people were drinking, there was no one else in the house.

The remaining 2 wine samples were collected at the house of patient NBH. Because the type of wine patient NBH brought to Mr. HDD's house to drink has not been determined, the staff of Quynh Luu District Medical Center collected 2 wine samples at patient NBH's house and handed them over to the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene.

According to patient NBH, the wine brought to Mr. HDD's house to drink was wine soaked with chopped leaves and stems of ethnic minorities in Hai Phong or Thai Nguyen (can't remember clearly) and soaked in wine about 3-4 years ago. On February 13, 2023, the patient brought it to Mr. HDD's house to drink... Currently, the authorities have not found this bottle of wine.

Currently, the Food Safety Department of Nghe An province has sent samples to the National Institute for Food Safety Control for testing.

Nghe An Newspaper will continue to update information./.