Poisoned Beer Kills 69 at African Funeral

In addition to the 69 that were killed, another 169 were poised by the beer.

The country where this took place (Mozambique) has declared three days of national mourning (January 12, 13, and 14th).

This from the website RT:

Police investigation has discovered that the beer was likely poisoned with crocodile bile during the funeral. Those who drank the beer in the morning of the funeral day reported no signs of illness, while those drinking it in the afternoon got sick, according to authorities.

The woman, who was in charge of brewing the beer, also died from poisoning.

All the blood and beer samples are being sent to the capital Maputo for testing as regional offices do not have the right technology.

To give this a little more context, here’s some info about the beer, called Pombe, that they would have drank from the funeral (from Heavy):

Pombe is a local specialty in eastern Africa. Pombe is the Swahili word for “from beer.” It wasfirst developed at the end of the 19th century by a German brewery. The brewers had imported the millet crop used for the beer from eastern Africa. It is generally brewed in a large pot with drinkers traditionally using straws to ingest the drink, straight from the pot.

The crocodile bile that was supposedly placed in the beer is (obviously) extremely dangerous.

A couple thoughts:

1)  Apparently almost every drinks beer at Mozambique funerals.

2)  Whoever did this is an extremely horrible person.

3)  Don’t rule out the funeral director.