60 Adventists Poisoned in Mzimba

By: Thula Chisamba

There was hullabaloo at Chinkhalamu in Mzimba on Saturday when about sixty Seventh day Adventist Christians were allegedly poisoned by fellow church members, The Malawi star can establish.

Information gathered by this publication indicates that the victims were pilgrims from Kapoli who went for a joint oration with their contemporaries at Chankhalamu area.

As per tradition, before the sermon, the visiting pilgrims were dished-up with tea and pumpkins. Regrettably just minutes after they finished eating and drinking, some children who were also on the pilgrimage began complaining of stomach pains.

“Some began vomiting and diarrhea. The congregation’s authorities decided to take about 20 of us to Mzimba hospital where and the other 40 followed soon after,” said Pauline Tembo, one of the victims.

On their part, medics at the facility confirmed that the pilgrims were poisoned through consuming poisonous foods.

They however, clarified that all the victims have survived because the poison was not strong enough to kill any of them.

“We have treated them as outpatients and are optimistic that nobody among them will develop some snags due to the poison,” said Mike Soko, a medic at Mzimba hospital.

On the other hand, the church members at Chankhalamu confessed that they did not intend to poison their colleagues citing they were equally astounded by the tragedy.

Mercy Msimuko who was among the cooks, that prepared the food, told our reporter that her team simply prepared the pumpkins and tea and they assumed that there was nothing wrong.

“Things were just happening too quickly to us after we learnt that our friends were confirmed poisoned but what we know is that the food we prepared for them was the usual food that we normally eat,” said Msimuko.

In reaction to the tragedy, the church leaders at Kapoli, where the victims came from, brushed aside reports that they suspected some foul play citing such things usually happens and that this will not even affect the relationship between the two.