BEIJING (AP) _ Vinegar tainted with antifreeze is suspected of killing 11 people and sickening 120 after a communal Ramadan meal in China's far western region of Xinjiang.
Investigators suspect the victims consumed vinegar that was put in two plastic barrels that had previously been used to store toxic antifreeze, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.
It said the mass food poisoning occurred Saturday night in a village close to Hotan city in Xinjiang, a border region that abuts Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. The victims were ethnic Muslims who were sharing an evening meal after the daily fast observed during the holy month of Ramadan.
Xinhua said children as young as 6 were among the dead. One person among the 120 sickened was still in critical condition.
Authorities were still testing to confirm the source of the poisoning, it said.
China's food safety record has been battered by the rampant use of illegal or substandard additives by unscrupulous food producers. Milk powder laced with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six children and sickened 300,000 in 2008. Producers added the nitrogen-rich melamine powder so their milk would seem higher in protein.
Revenge attacks using rat poison or other chemicals are also common in China, where access to firearms and other deadly weapons is tightly controlled.
In April, three children died and 35 others were sickened by milk tainted with nitrite. An investigation showed that a local dairy farmer had put the poison into their competitor's milk supply.
But accidental contamination is also a problem, caused by low hygiene standards, particularly in rural areas, and weak quality control by regulators.
<한글 요약>
中 부동액병에 식초를.. 식중독으로 11명 사망
중국의 서부지역 신장에서 부동액으로 오염된 식초가 들어있는 음식을 먹고 11명이 사망하고 120명이 구토와 복통증상을 보였다.
조사관은 피해자들이 독성의 부동액을 저장했던 용기에 담겨 있던 식초를 섭취한 것이 사건의 원인이라 추측한다고 신화통신이 전했다.
지난 토요일 밤 일어난 이 식중독 사건은 아프가니스탄, 파키스탄과 중앙 아시아를 연결하는 국경이 근접한 신장지역에서 일어났으며 피해자들은 무슬림들로 이슬람의 성월(聖月)인 라마단의 금식을 끝나고 공동식사를 하던 중 참변을 당했다.
신화통신은 사망자 가운데 6살의 어린 아이도 있으며 120명 중 한 명은 중태에 빠졌다고 전했다.
