Woman Dies, Husband In Coma After Eating This Deadly Fish In Malaysia

Puffer fish may contain the potent and deadly toxins tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin, which cannot be destroyed by cooking or freezing.

An 83-year-old woman in Malaysia died after eating a puffer fish while her husband is still being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Citing a local media outlet, the New York Post reported that the incident took place on March 25 in Johor. The couple's daughter, Ng Ai Lee, said her father purchased the puffer fish - a delicacy known to contain extremely potent poisons - from a local shop. 

"My parents have been buying fish from the same fishmonger for many years, so my father did not think twice about it," Ms said, as per the Post. "He would not have knowingly bought something so deadly to eat and put their lives in danger," she added. 

Separately, Johor's health and unity committee chairman, Ling Tian Soon said that shortly after the couple cleaned and cooked the fish for lunch, the woman, identified as Lim Siew Guan, began to shiver and experience breathing difficulties. Her husband also began displaying similar symptoms about an hour later, Mr Soon added. 

The couple's son then rushed them to the hospital, however, that evening his mother was pronounced dead. "The 'cause of death' is given as 'food poisoning with neurological manifestation resulting in respiratory failure with cardiac dysrhythmia possibly due to ciguatera toxin or tetrodotoxin ingestion,' from the puffer fish," Mr Soon said in a statement, as per Newsweek.