197 Hospitalized Due to Food Poisoning in Western Kazakhstan

ASTANA. May 28 (Interfax) – The number of Tengizchevroil workers hospitalized with food poisoning in the Atyrau province in western Kazakhstan has reached 197, the Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry said on Wednesday.

“As of 6 p.m. on Tuesday, a total of 197 people were hospitalized, with 179 of them admitted to a hospital in the village of Shanyrak and 15 of them to a unit of the Kulsary district hospital,” the statement says.

It was reported earlier that 192 people had been hospitalized.

According to the Emergency Situations Ministry, 38 of those hospitalized were diagnosed with salmonellas and six with staphylococcus aureus.

As of now 88 people with food poisoning “have received treatment and are awaiting final bacteriological checks before they are allowed to go home,” the ministry said.

It was reported earlier that a criminal case into the mass poisoning of workers building a gas injection plant in the village of Tengiz was opened on Saturday.

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