Seafood meal kills 3 kids, downs parents

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines –Three children died of suspected food poisoning after eating fish and shrimps cooked in vinegar in Jose Panganiban town in Camarines Norte on Tuesday.

Initial reports said Valentino Galleon, his wife Jessa and children Mark PJ, 7; John Rommel, 5, and Princess Jessabel, 2, complained of stomach pains around three hours after their lunch, but ignored it.

It was only around 5 p.m. when the family went to a hospital for treatment.

The children were pronounced dead on arrival at the Camarines Norte Provincial Hospital. Their parents remained confined at the same hospital yesterday.

Chief Inspector Victor Abarca, Jose Panganiban police chief, said a nurse of the Jose Panganiban rural health unit was sent to the house of the victims to get samples of the food for testing.

Abarca said the nurse also took samples of the salt used.

He said the companions of Valentino, who caught the fish off Barangay Sta. Milagrosa,  did not fall ill after eating it.