80 fall ill after eating at banquet in China

BEIJING - Over 80 people fell ill late Sunday after eating at a funeral banquet in China.

Villagers in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region ate at a dinner Saturday night following the funeral of a local man. More than 80 people, however, sought medication for stomach ache and diarrhoea since 7 p.m. Sunday, authorities said.

Though no deaths have been reported and the sick villagers were all in a stable condition, officials said it was not known how many people ate the dinner, Xinhua reported.

The patients were taken to a clinic in Dongqi township and later transferred to hospitals in Rong’an town for further medical observation, a government spokesman said, adding that officials from the Disease Control Centre in Rong’an county have arrived to conduct investigation.