January 30, 2004

Contaminated Pork Causes 38 Deaths In Indonesia

Thirty-eight people died after eating contaminated pork in a remote village in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua, a local official said Thursday.

Hundreds of villagers in the district of Pegunungan Bintang fell sick after consuming the meat, said Paminto Widodo of the provincial health office.

"The district's public health center said 38 have died," Widodo said from Papua's capital Jayapura, about 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) east of Jakarta.

He added that a medical team has been sent to the mountainous district to investigate the deaths.

Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, is located on the western half of New Guinea island.