{"id":13502,"date":"2018-03-15T16:13:32","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T20:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=13502"},"modified":"2018-03-15T16:15:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T20:15:25","slug":"st-lucia-authorities-investigates-mystery-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/st-lucia-authorities-investigates-mystery-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Lucia authorities investigate mystery deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Health officials say investigations are continuing to probe death of four persons and the hospitalization of several others after they ingested a drink after a funeral.<\/span><\/p>

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Speculation continues to be rife as to why several persons from one community have died, many others are hospitalized and others are being examined after having the drink.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Royal St. Lucia Police Force says it is too early to determine the cause of death of four persons from the Coolie Town, Marigot, located on the island\u2019s west coast \u2013 the last of whom died on Monday as investigations are still in the preliminary stages.<\/span><\/p>

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Up to Thursday, the deaths remain shrouded in mystery, despite investigations by the police which have teamed up with the Ministry of Health.<\/span><\/p>

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Health officials have been working to determine the cause of death and to ease speculation that the three males and one female may have consumed a poisonous substance, mistaken for alcohol.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Thursday the Health Minister advised persons with information relating to the deaths to come forward and share what they may know, to prevent others from being exposed to the substance which informants say was being sold to the public.<\/span><\/p>

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Chief Medical Officer, Merlene Fredericks told a news conference Thursday that based on the side effects, the substance is suspected to be methanol that was stolen.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the police and health authorities have not yet substantiated such claims.<\/span><\/p>

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Fredericks confirmed that the Ministry of Health is investigating the deaths.<\/span><\/p>

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\u201cAll are adults ranging in ages from 32 to 55 years-old, one a female, three are males,\u201d Fredericks said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHence the reason why we have a health team on the ground in Coolie Town comprising of doctors, environmental health officers, and nurses \u2014 and they are working together with the police from the area to actually go into the communities and have a thorough investigation, asking questions and trying to find out exactly what is going on,\u201d Fredericks said.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Fredericks, persons who came to be diagnosed appeared to be intoxicated after consuming the mysterious substance.<\/span><\/p>\n

They also complained of problems with their eyes and shortly after became unconscious.<\/span><\/p>\n

A press release from the Ministry of Health noted that patients were presented to the Victoria Hospital at varying times with unusual symptoms, such as sudden onset of blindness, abnormal abdominal pain and in some cases, persons developed rapid unconsciousness and death. And that the symptoms seem more in keeping with a poisonous substance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not believe that the individuals died of an infectious disease. We have heard rumours of a possible toxic substance, perhaps something that looks like and smells like alcohol being stolen and shared but have no evidence at this point of what the actual toxin may be,\u201d the press release stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fredericks said that the emergency room of Victoria Hospital has been flooded with persons from the Coolie Town area who believe that they may have been exposed to the substance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Health officials say investigations are continuing to probe death of four persons and the hospitalization of several others after they ingested a drink after a funeral. Speculation continues to be rife as to why several persons from one community have died, many others are hospitalized and others are being examined after having the drink. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional"],"yoast_head":"\nSt. Lucia authorities investigate mystery deaths - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/st-lucia-authorities-investigates-mystery-deaths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Lucia authorities investigate mystery deaths\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Health officials say investigations are continuing to probe death of four persons and the hospitalization of several others after they ingested a drink after a funeral. 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