43 people suffer suspected food poisoning at Tiberias hotel
Dozens of guests staying at two hotels in northern Galilee region evacuated to local hospital after complaining of dizziness, vomiting episodes.
Among those hospitalized are an 82-year-old woman and three children, including a 1-year-old baby. Thirty one of the 43 guests taken to the local hospital had been staying at the Bali hotel in the city, while the rest had been guests of the Leonardo Club hotel in Tiberias.
Health authorities reported they would examine the source of the food poisoning outbreak, after the Fire Department ruled out the possibility that the guests' illness was linked to chemical toxins.
"It was like something out of a horror movie, seeing the firefighters with masks in the middle of the night," said Shimon Dayan, one of the hotel guests who spent the night in the local hospital with his wife and two daughters, a 16-year-old and a one-year-old.
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"My oldest daughter began feeling ill in the afternoon, and gradually the rest of the family felt the same. I brought the deputy-manager of the hotel to our room, and she thought I was kidding, but then we discovered that another relative of ours was feeling unwell, as well as other people from different rooms."
"What you're seeing here in the emergency room is nothing. There are dozens of people in the hotel who are feeling sick, and simply didn’t want to go to the hospital," Lily Cohen from Or Yehuda said.
"We began feeling ill yesterday afternoon and gradually it got worse, until my sons also felt unwell. We were scared because a lot of rumors had started circulating about dangerous chemicals, until the fire department checked and didn't find anything. We go on many vacations, but I don't think we'll come back to this place."
The Poriya Hospital Director, Dr. Erez Onn, said that the guests began arriving at the hospital at about 9 pm on Friday night, but had said that the symptoms began several hours earlier. "The symptoms are compatible with food poisoning, but there could be other reasons. I discussed the matter with the regional physician and updated her, and the Health Ministry is looking into the case".
