- A husband and wife in their 80s have both died after unwittingly consuming pufferfish in Malaysia.
- The couple's daughter is calling for stricter laws around the sale of the fish in Malaysia.
A couple in their 80s have both died after eating a poisonous pufferfish in Malaysia, leading their daughter to call for stricter laws around the sale of the fish, which is only safe to eat when correctly prepared.
Ng Chuan Sing, 84, and his wife Lim Siew Guan, 83, purchased the fish from a trusted fishmonger on March 25 without realizing what it was, Insider's Alia Shoab previously reported.
Lim died the same day the couple ate the fish, with Ng spending eight days in a coma before dying too, their daughter Ng Ai Lee said at a press conference, The Star reported.
The day they bought the fish, Lim Siuw Gan fried it for her and her husband to eat. But shortly afterwards she started shivering and having difficulty breathing. An hour later, Ng Chuan Sing developed similar symptoms.
The couple went to hospital, with Lim pronounced dead at 7 p.m.
Their daughter said that she and her brother rushed to see their parents but didn't make it before their mother died.
Her cause of death was identified as food poisoning with neurological manifestation resulting in respiratory failure and irregular heart rate, The Star reported.
Malaysia's Health Department is waiting for the results of lab reports into the couple's deaths, which could take two to three weeks, according to The Star.
Ng is now demanding stronger laws around pufferfish in Malaysia, where at least 30 species of the fish are found in the surrounding water, according to CNN.
"Those responsible for their deaths should be held accountable under the law and I hope the authorities will speed up investigations," she said.
She added: "I also hope the Malaysian government will beef up enforcement and help to raise public awareness on pufferfish poisoning to prevent such incidents from happening again."
Pufferfish can contain potent and deadly toxins tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin, which can cause severe illness and death, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The fish is only safe to eat if cleaned and prepared in a specific manner that removes the toxic parts. In Japan, only qualified chefs with specific knowledge are allowed to serve pufferfish, but Malaysia has no such rules.
Malaysia does prohibit the sale of poisonous and harmful food like pufferfish meat, which is punishable with a fine of RM10,000 ($2,300) or a prison term of up to two years.
Ng, who said she felt "indescribable" pain, said her parents had been buying fish from the same fishmonger for years, so her father didn't think twice about it.
"He would not have knowingly bought something so deadly to eat and put their lives in danger," she said.