Two die in mass food poisoning at Mosul camp for displaced

The food, which was provided by a non-governmental organisation, was meant for an iftar.

A man comforts his daughter as a doctor treats her after she was taken ill with suspected food poisoning in the Hassan Sham U2 camp for displaced people located about 20km east of Mosul, Iraq on June Show more

HASSAN SHAM CAMP, Iraq // A woman and a young girl died and 700 fell sick in a mass food poisoning at a camp for the displaced near Mosul.

Up to 300 people were rushed from the desert tent camp to hospitals in the nearby city of Erbil after people started falling ill on Monday evening.

The affected food was eaten as part of iftar at Hassan Sham, one of the many camps dotting the region around Mosul, where Iraqi forces are battling ISIL.

The meal included rice, yogurt, chicken and soup and had been purchased from a restaurant by a Qatar-based charity working in the region, said Joel Millman of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Iraq’s health minister Adila Hamoud said 752 people became ill after the meal and at least 300 people remain in serious condition.

Amira Abdulhaliq, from the United Nations’ refugee agency, said it remains unclear at which point in preparing, packaging, transporting or distributing the meals, the food became contaminated.

“So far, we have received around 800 cases, around 200 have been transported to the hospitals in Irbil,” she said.

On Tuesday, medics were treating patients in a large tent at the edge of the camp. About 20 to 30 patients, mostly small children, lay on blankets on the floor as several more serious cases were being ferried away by ambulances. At least one new patient was brought in during the day. Most of those afflicted were suffering from stomach cramps and dehydration, resulting from vomiting and diarrhoea.

Iraqi MP Raad Al Dahlaki, who chairs the parliament’s immigration and displacement committee and who visited the camp overnight, said the food was distributed by a Qatari charity known as RAF. He added that Iraqi officials were to meet those from the organisation. The Doha-based charity did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Erbil police chief Abdulhaleq Talaat said seven people were arrested in connection with the incident. He said the food was prepared in an Erbil restaurant by a local NGO, Ain el Muhtajeen, under a donation by RAF. Dr Sabur Ahmed, head of Erbil children’s hospital, said 22 children remained in hospital while the rest have been discharged.

On Twitter, Saudi state television accused RAF of supplying the tainted meals and posted images it said showed the camp’s children “poisoned by the terrorist Qatari RAF organisation.”

RAF is the acronym for the Qatar-based Thani Bin Abdullah Al Thani Foundation for Humanitarian Services, a charity that collects donations to do aid work around the world, including providing meals to needy families during Ramadan.

RAF is also among 12 organisations and 59 people put on what Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini officials described as a list of terror entities and individuals on Friday.

On Qatari state television meanwhile, a repeatedly aired programme has discussed how the diplomatic dispute has stopped it from providing meals to Syrian refugees at a major camp in Jordan.

The Hassan Sham

camp houses thousands who have fled their homes in and around Mosul after an Iraqi offensive was launched to dislodge ISIL from the city last October. According to the UN refugee agency, it is home to 6,235 people.

*Associated Press and Agence France-Presse