An 83-year-old woman has died, and her husband has been left in a coma after the couple ate a pufferfish. According to Insider, the couple was unaware that the fish contained “deadly toxins.”
According to the couple’s daughter, Ng Ai Lee, her 84-year-old father purchased the pufferfish from a fishmonger in Malaysia. Lee adds that her father had never heard of the fish before.
“My parents have been buying fish from the same fishmonger for many years, so my father did not think twice about it.”
Additionally, Lee adds that her father “would have never” knowingly put his family’s lives in “danger.”
“He would not have knowingly bought something so deadly to eat and put their lives in danger.”
According to Lee, her mother, Lim Siew Guan, began having “difficulty breathing” and began shivering after she fried and ate the fish for lunch. Her father soon after experienced the same symptoms.
Lee and her brother rushed to get to their parents. However, they learned of their mother’s death halfway through the trip.
The 83-year-old’s cause of death has reportedly been listed as “food poisoning with neurological manifestation resulting in respiratory failure and irregular heart rate, possibly due to consuming the fish.”
Lee’s 84-year-old father is now in a coma and being treated in the intensive care unit of a hospital.
“I am prepared for the worst because the doctor told us that even if he is able to pull through the ordeal, he might not be the same anymore, due to his old age.”
According to the outlet, pufferfish “can contain potent and deadly toxins,” which can cause “severe illness and death.” Furthermore, pufferfish is only safe to eat if the fish has been “cleaned and prepared in a special manner that removes the toxic parts.” Additionally, the toxins in the fish cannot be destroyed solely by cooking it.
