Police confirm rat poisoning was deliberate

By Yang Lifei  |   2008-7-1  |     ONLINE EDITION

HAINAN Province police have confirmed that Saturday's rat poisoning incident was deliberate, Xinhuanet.com reported.

The conclusion was made after lab tests identified rat poison in the rice that the victims ate at dinner in Haikou, the provincial capital. Twelve people, including a seven-year-old girl and a pregnant woman, are in hospital and six remain in critical condition, the report said.


The Shanghai government arranged for an emergency flight to bring an antidote for rat poison to Hainan on Sunday, helping to save the lives of 12 victims.

The Shanghai Food and Drug Administration received a call from Hainan health officials at 4am that day asking for an antidote for tetramine. Local FDA officials contacted Shanghai Hefeng Pharmaceutical Co at 5:30am and collected the medicine.

The injections were sent on the first flight to Hainan.

The incident was reported about 8:40 pm on Saturday at Fuxia restaurant in Fucheng Township, Qiongshan District. A total of 12 people from one family were poisoned after having dinner at their own store.

The victims suffered from vomiting, convulsions and lost consciousness. One patient's heart stopped beating for a short time, but the individual was revived with emergency treatment, the treatment said.

The victims, mostly in their twenties, were rushed to three hospitals in Haikou.

The provincial and city disease prevention experts then tested samples from the victims' vomit and found rat poison, and they believed the rice was contaminated, the report said.

Sanitation departments also sealed up the food produced in the restaurant, but no rat poison was discovered, the report said.