The nation’s top forensics expert has conducted autopsies after five people died mysteriously within the past three days in Aboriginal villages in Nantou County.
The autopsy results will be made public tomorrow at the earliest, the expert said.
Pan Chih-hsin (潘志信), a forensics expert from the Ministry of Justice’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, went to Nantou County with four aides on Friday afternoon to conduct autopsies on two couples who died on Wednesday and a man who died on Friday morning. The autopsies were completed at about midnight, with Pan taking most of the bodies’ organs to a lab for further examination.
Lin Ching-yi (林敬儀), 55, his wife and another couple living in an Aboriginal village in Sinyi Township (信義), Nantou County, died on Wednesday after they dined -together at Lin’s home.
Investigators said the four all had looks of pain on their faces and myosis.
Investigators suspected they had ingested neurotoxins with the food they ate or in the alcohol they drank during the meal. However, after investigators examined the food and drink, they found no presence of poisons and they concluded that they could not identify the material that caused their deaths.
Meanwhile, another man, surnamed Shih (史), 27, who lived in a village about 10km from Sinyi Township, also died from suspected neurotoxin poisoning on Friday morning.
Shih’s wife told investigators she chewed betel nut and drank tea and alcohol with her husband on Thursday evening, adding that her husband acted normal before his sudden death the next morning.
Investigators said residents in the villages had panicked after the incidents. Home-made alcohol, pigsties and well water were suspected sources of the unknown poisons that led to the deaths. Investigators said they had asked local police to visit households in the area and called on residents to avoid drinking or eating anything suspicious.
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