KLUANG: Octogenarian Lim Siew Guan, who died after eating puffer fish at Kampung Chamek, Paloh, on Saturday, had no idea that the fish she prepared was poisonous.
According to the victim's daughter, Ng Ai Lee, 51, her father, Eng Kuai Sin @ Ng Chuan Sing, 84, bought the fish from a peddler who sells from a van that comes to his old folks' home.
She said her family was sad and regrets that the seller did not inform her father, a regular customer, that the fish he bought was poisonous.
"This is the first time my father had bought this type of fish. When my brother brought my parents to the hospital, my father told him that he did not know the fish he bought was puffer fish and was poisonous.
"This is the first time my parents ate puffer fish. They would not have taken it for fun because they are careful and health-conscious people.
"I contacted the seller before my mother passed away, and it's true that my father has been buying fish from this seller roughly once a week.
"The seller said that he has been selling puffer fish all this while and his customers have been okay. The seller also said that the poisoning could be due to other food or my parents' health," she said when contacted.
Ng said her mother was buried in a Chinese cemetery near their house today, while her father still lay unconscious in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Enche' Besar Hajjah Khalsom Hospital, here.
"I hope the authorities will take appropriate action so that no one else will become a casualty because the sale of poisonous fish is not regulated.
"An earlier statement that said my father bought the fish via Facebook is not true. Right now my family is facing a difficult time and we don't know what actions to take, other than make a police report.
"However, we hope that the authorities will do right by my parents who fell victim to the irresponsibility of the fish seller, who would risk other people's lives for their own benefit," she said.
Previously, the media reported that an elderly woman died while her husband was being treated in the ICU after eating puffer fish on Saturday.