Girl dies, 10 others hospitalized due to red tide poisoning in Catbalogan City

TACLOBAN CITY — A four-yearold girl died Wednesday, October 13, after eating green mussels and oysters believed to have come from a red tide-infested bay in Catbalogan City.

The girl and 10 others aged four to 49 years old experienced symptoms such as numbness, difficulty in breathing and vomiting after eating the shellfish which were attached to a bamboo pole that was washed ashore in Barangay Old Mahayag last October 12.

Barangay Old Mahayag is adjacent to Irong-irong bay where a shellfish ban has been imposed by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Region 8 (BFAR-8).

The victims were reported to have suffered paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP).

According to an investigation conducted by the City Health Office of Catbalogan and the Fisheries Resource Protection Group 8, the victims knew of the BFAR’s national and local shellfish advisories against consuming shellfish coming from Irong-irong bay. However, they still gathered the mussels and oysters from the shoreline near their residences.