2 fishermen die after eating puffer fish

TWO fishermen died few hours after they cooked and ate a puffer fish, commonly known as “butete,” as “pulutan” or appetizer in a drinking bout in Zamboanga City, a police official said Thursday.

The fishermen identified as Rodrigo Pioquinto, 53, and Randy Algodon, 32, both residents of Patalon village, died at the hospital while undergoing treatment.

Police Station 10 commander Chief Inspector Roberto Marcos said the duo were having a drinking spree around 10 p.m. Wednesday at Pioquinto’s house when they were given a puffer fish by another fisherman, Alvin Bucoy.

They cooked the puffer fish and served it as “pulutan” since they continue their drinking bout, Marcos added.

Bucoy, however, did not join them, he said.

Pioquinto and Algodon complained of dizziness, stomach pain and started vomiting two hours after they ate the “butete,” he said.

Their relatives rushed them to the Labuan Public Hospital for treatment, he said.

The two were later transferred to the Zamboanga City Medical Center where they expired while undergoing medical treatment, he added.

Puffer fish is generally believed to be the second poisonous vertebrates in the world, after the golden poison frog, Wikipedia stated.

According to the National Geographic Channel, almost all puffer fish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting. To humans, tetrodotoxin is deadly, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide.

There are enough toxins in one puffer fish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote, the National Geographic added.