At the wedding of Basri Seyhan and Leyla Çelikel in Yücetepe village, guests, some of whom arrived from neighboring villages, ate chicken döner kebabs distributed to them during the nuptials. In the evening, many guests began to display symptoms of food poisoning, and a doctor and health team from a Muş hospital were called to the village, which is 25 kilometers from the city of Muş.The health staff asked for additional ambulances to the village. When it became clear that the ambulances could not hold everybody suffering from food poisoning, village minibuses carried other ill guests to nearby hospitals. Those in serious condition -- 55 adults and 80 children -- were taken to hospital emergency rooms. While a total of 169 people were initially hospitalized, 160 were released yesterday. Nine patients were still undergoing treatment at Muş State Hospital.
Muş Provincial Health Director Kenan Akpolat visited the hospitals to collect information about the condition of the afflicted. Reporting that the wedding guests were suffering from food poisoning, Akpolat said the patients are generally in good health and that the province's agricultural directorate and health directorate will examine samples of food that guests ate. He also noted that the guests panicked over fears of swine flu.
