At least three members of a family have died and three have been hospitalized after eating a traditional Christmas cake – months after the baker’s husband died of food poisoning.
Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, and Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, went into cardiac arrest after consuming Bolo de Natal, a homemade Brazilian Christmas cake, on Monday, December 23 in Brazil. Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65, meanwhile, died a day later of “shock after poisoning,” according to Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes de Torres Hospital, The Independent reported.
Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos (61), who prepared the cake with her sister, and a ten-year-old boy were hospitalized after falling ill. The third victim hospitalized has not been identified.
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According to local news outlet O Globo, Brazilian civil police are conducting tests to confirm the cause of death of the three women.
The publication reported that the first laboratory tests revealed the presence of arsenic in their bodies.
The revelation has now prompted police to reopen an investigation into the death of Zela’s late husband, Paolo Luiz.
His death from food poisoning in September was not investigated because it was considered natural, O Globo reported.
“As we learned about this fact today, we have opened a police investigation and we will exhume the body of this man to check if there was also poisoning,” Detective Marcos Vinícius Velho, who is leading the investigation, told the newspaper.
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According to The Daily MailZeli ate two slices of cake that she and her sister had baked.
A friend of the family told RBS TV, O Globo, that the family had baked a cake several years ago and that there were no problems between them.
“It was a traditional family cake, a royal cake, which they always, always, always made,” he said, according to the agency.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education