Contaminated Pombe beer kills 69 in Mozambique funeral

#Mozambique #crocodilebile #beer #Pombe It is a known fact that crocodiles can be dangerous when alive but, it can be equally dangerous when dead. Reports indicate that beer contaminated with crocodile bile resulted in dearth of 69 persons in Mozambique and another 196 people have been admitted to a hospital in the Chitima district.
The victims of the suspected poisoning had gone to attend the funeral of a newborn baby in the Chitima district near the Cahora Bassa Lake.
It seems African traditions demand that when a crocodile is killed, its bile must be immediately removed and buried in front of witnesses to prove that it has not fallen into the wrong hands, to be used as poison.
Bile is a deadly greenish-brown liquid that is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder and it is suspected that it was put into traditional beer that killed the people who drank it at a funeral on in Mozambique's northeast Tete province. Such deaths of poisoning by crocodile bile was not new in the area.
The traditional Mozambican beer is called Pombe and it is made from millet or corn flour and brewed for about two days. It is a popular drink and enjoyed during ceremonies, and is often sold in rural areas of the southern African country.