MORE than 100 people fell ill and 29 received treatment at a health centre last week after they were sickened by a meal of deer meat in Ratanakkiri province’s Veun Sai district.

Veun Sai district police chief Toeun Nou Thorng said several villagers had discovered a deer carcasss in the forest of Veun Sai’s Hatpak commune and had shared the meet with others in the area. The carcass was rotten and odiferous, and had likely been sitting in the forest for several days, he added.

“Several hours after eating, everyone in the village started getting stomachaches and diarrhoea until there were 120 people who had become sick,” he said.

To make matters worse, a number of villagers had eaten the meat raw, he said, adding that those who did were among the most severely ill.

Sum Samlai, director of the provincial health department, said none of those affected were in danger of dying, and that health officials had instructed the villagers not to eat rotten meat.

“We helped them in a timely manner and I told them not to eat spoiled meat anymore,” Sum Samlai said. “They listened to us and agreed that they would not do it again.”