Red tide-contaminated tahong kills 1, downs 18

TACLOBAN CITY — Red tide-contaminated tahong (mussels) killed a 60-year-old woman and downed 18 other residents of a coastal village in Tarangan, Samar, some 120 kilometers north of this city.

Samar health authorities identified the fatality as Patricia Lomunigue, who died while she was being rushed to the provincial hospital an hour after experiencing symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning like numbness, dizziness and body weakness.

Gil Adora, regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, said 18 other victims, who included a family of seven and children as young as three years old, were given immediate medical attention at the provincial hospital.

Hospital officials said the 18 residents are already out of danger and may be discharged anytime tomorrow.

All the victims are residents of Barangay Jomacob, 25 kilometers away from the town proper of Catbalogan, Samar.

A red tide outbreak occurred in a neighboring village last Sept. 19, killing a five-year-old girl and downing 25 others.

A week after the incident, a similar red tide outbreak hit Barangay Old Mahayag in Catbalogan, prompting an inter-agency task force to ban the gathering, harvesting, marketing and transporting of all kinds of shellfish across the region due to red tide contamination.

Adora reminded the public that the shellfish ban in the Samar, Maqueda and Villareal Bays has not been lifted.

Adora said the consumption of tahong is not yet safe, especially if it is gathered from the three bays.

Adora said the red tide problem has resulted in potential income losses amounting to P15 million for the Samar shellfish industry.