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Tuesday, April 29, 2003A crew member of an Egyptian merchant ship has died in northern Brazil, almost certainly from anthrax, after opening a suitcase suspected of containing the substance which he was taking to Canada. A spokesman for Brazilian federal police in the Amazon state of Para said on Monday an autopsy of the Egyptian man, whom he named as Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim, showed that he had died after vomiting, internal bleeding and multiple organ failure. "He was the victim of anthrax," said Fernando Sergio Castro, adding that police were 90 percent certain that Ibrahim had died of anthrax. Ibrahim died in the hotel were he was staying on April 11. Several health workers who found his body were taken to a hospital after becoming ill but are now out of danger. The Canadians, however, who have put the man’s ship in quarantine and are inspecting it for anthrax, tell a different story: RCMP Insp. Dan Tanner dismissed media claims originating in Brazil that suggested the deceased was given a piece of luggage in Egypt before he travelled to the South American country, where he joined the crew of a ship now quarantined off Nova Scotia. "I can assure you we've discovered no threat to Canada, criminally or terrorism-wise," Tanner said Monday in Halifax. ``Right now it's just a story." ...Ibrahim, chief officer of the vessel Wadi Al Arab, boarded the ship in a Brazilian port and became sick after opening the bag and exposing himself to anthrax spores, the Reuters report said. The man, said to be an Egyptian in his 50s, died in Brazilian waters after suffering from internal bleeding and multiple organ failure. ...Malcher said Ibrahim started feeling ill about seven hours after boarding the ship. "He was found dead early the next morning," he said. "Before boarding, Ibrahim was submitted to routine medical examinations and was found to be in perfect health, so it would seem that the infection occurred on board." So where did he open the suitcase? The ship or the hotel? If at the hotel, wouldn’t the Brazilian authorities already have the suitcase and its contents? And where did he die? Sounds like this case needs a good investigative reporter. UPDATE: This explains at least part of the mystery - it wasn't anthrax. (via WindsofChange) posted by Sydney on 4/29/2003 08:13:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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