Authorities in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin said on Monday that nearly 40 people have fallen victim to what they believe to be a contaminated batch of crab sauce imported from the nearby town of Battambang.
The crisis has become so severe that police have ordered vendors to stop selling crab sauce until it can be sent to the capital for testing, as rumours that the sauce was deliberately poisoned swirled around the once-remote municipality, which lies about 370km north-west of the capital on the Thailand border.
”We are not sure what the problem is, which is why we took samples to the capital for testing,” Pailin’s chief of economic police, Iev Kinsean, said by telephone.
”Poor sanitation is just as likely to have caused this, but one thing is for sure, there is no more crab sauce in Pailin right now; no buyers and no vendors.”
The sauce, which has so far hospitalised nine people and left another 30 seeking treatment at home for symptoms of vomiting, fatigue and stomach cramps, is made from salted rice-paddy crabs and is a popular condiment in Cambodia.
”It may be that these crabs, which come from the rice-growing areas to the south, have been accidentally poisoned with insecticides being used in the rice fields,” Pailin municipal commissioner Ley Chanchhay said by telephone.
”However, no one has died and we don’t expect to make arrests.”
Pailin remained closed off to the rest of Cambodia until the mid-1990s and is still home to thousands of former Khmer Rouge rebels and many of the top leaders of the former Khmer Rouge regime, which ruled between 1975 and 1979. — Sapa-DPA