Poisoning kills 10 at Chinese funeral

A mass poisoning at a lunch held after a funeral in central China killed 10 people and left 23 in hospital in serious condition.

Investigators suspect the food was tainted with a powerful rat poison.

The poisoning was at a lunch given by a farmer named Zhu Fabin in Yuanbao, a town in Hubei province, state television said.

It said the gathering was meant to thank villagers who helped with the funeral of Zhu’s father.

Guests fell ill after eating and suffered muscle spasms and other symptoms like those caused by the rat poison. Zhu did not eat at the lunch, the woman said.

The dead included the local Communist Party secretary, said the newspaper Jintian Metropolitan News.