Poisoned Beer Kills 69 In Mozambique At A Party Over The Weekend

At least 69 people died over the weekend in Mozambique after drinking home-brewed beer, a local government official has said.The mass poisoning occurred when people attending a funeral on Friday in the village of Chitima in central Mozambique fell ill, with seven fatalities initially confirmed the following morning.

"As we prepared to determine the cause of death of people we began to receive a lot of people with diarrhea and other muscle aches. After that we began to receive dead bodies from several neighborhoods," Paula Bernardo, the district director for Health, Women and Social Action, told the public broadcaster.

169 people are presently being treated at different hospitals in the country, while samples of the brew and suspicious objects found inside the drum have been sent to the National Laboratory for testing.

The country’s president, Armando Guebuza, has declared three days of national mourning for the lost souls.