70 ill after eating in restaurant near Beijing

BEIJING - At least 70 people have fallen ill after eating at a restaurant in a resort near here, police and health officials said Saturday.

The people showed symptoms of nausea and vomiting after having lunch Friday at the restaurant in Shuian Shanba, a holiday resort in the outskirts of Beijing.

Most of the sick people were treated in local hospitals and nine of them, including a two-year-old boy, were sent to a hospital in Beijing.

All nine people had clonidine, a drug for high blood pressure, in their blood, a doctor at the hospital was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The victims’ food was probably contaminated with clonidine, he said.

Though the patients were all stable, they were unwilling to talk Saturday and dismissed reporters’ questions with “I’m tired and want to sleep.”