Child dead, 23 downed by expired canned sardines, corned beef

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — An 11-year-old child died while 23 others were hospitalized Friday after eating expired canned sardines and corned beef they found in a vacant lot in Zamboanga City, dumped by a dealer, already unfit for human consumption.

In separate statements released on Friday afternoon, the Zamboanga City Health Office and the Zamboanga City Police Office identified the food poisoning fatality as Gabriel Agdatan Sumulang, whose lifeless body is now in a mortuary.

The Catholic Station DXMS here reported on Saturday morning that Sumulang and the 23 other victims, six of them preschool children, belong to marginalized families in Sitio Malubog in Barangay Patalon in Zamboanga City.

The 23 victims were rushed to different hospitals, according to the Zamboanga City LGU.

They reportedly feasted on the expired canned sardines and corned beef a truck driver named Aldo Reyes Labacanacruz dumped at a vacant lot in Barangay Patalon on order of his employer, Gaudencio Rojas.

The merchant Rojas had reportedly told the police that Labanacruz ignored his instruction to dump the canned goods in a secluded trash site, far from the area where the victims reside.

The Zamboanga City LGU had assured to extend relief support and cash assistance for the burial of Sumulang.