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34 Japanese fly home from Vietnam with food poisoning symptoms

By VnExpress October 28, 2016 | 05:51 am PT

Aviation officials rule out issues on their Vietnam Airlines flight, suspecting their hotel dinner is to blame.

In a case of apparent food poisoning, 34 Japanese passengers fell ill on their flight from Vietnam soon after take-off around noon on Friday.

The passengers were members of a group of 263 Japanese high school students and their teachers, who were returning home from their trip on a Vietnam Airlines flight.

Lai Xuan Thanh, the director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, told VnExpress that the passengers experienced diarrhea and vomiting.

Two Vietnamese doctors helped treat the sick passengers on the Boeing 787 aircraft.

When the plane arrived at Narita Airport in Tokyo at 7.45 a.m. local time, it was met by a fleet of ambulances with medical staff ready to look after the passengers.

National carrier Vietnam Airlines said the group had food poisoning before getting on the plane.

According to the flight report, a teacher confirmed the group had had dinner at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City and that they didn’t eat anything during the flight.

“We have reason to think that the passengers all had food poisoning after their diner at the hotel," Thanh said. "There was nothing wrong with the in-flight meals or the plane.”

The aircraft was then checked by Japanese authorities before flying back to Vietnam. Of the affected passengers, 33 have been released from hospital.

> Dozens of tourists hospitalized due to suspected food poisoning in Vietnam's resort town