In a nightmare development for the Italian football club Salernitana, eight of its players and 13 technical staff members had to be hospitalised due to food poisoning after their 0-2 loss to Sampdoria in a Serie B league game. On June 16, in the morning after, the police went to the hotel that hosted the club to investigate.
The club is fighting to stave off relegation and has now requested the organisers to postpone their next game, scheduled on Friday to help their team recover. It remains to be seen if their request is agreed. The good news is that all 21 members have returned home after medical care at the hospital; they have been prescribed a couple of days of rest and “pharmacological therapy” according to the Italian newspaper La Gazetta.
The trouble started at the team hotel in Genoa after the game. Since they were leaving a couple of hours after the match, everyone reportedly was given a takeaway meal that included rice. During the flight back, the club members experienced gastrointestinal issues.
“On board, according to reports, there were nightmare scenes with many struggling with excruciating pain. Upon arrival at the Salerno-Costa d’Amalfi airport, four ambulances and private vehicles took the twenty-one members to the hospitals in Salerno and Battipaglia,” La Gazzetta reported.
Next day, the state police of Genoa investigated the matter at the hotel that hosted the team. The hotel management reportedly told them that the takeaway meal was prepared on the instructions of the team nutritionist. The police are investigating how the contents of the food get contaminated.
The club issued a statement today: “US Salernitana 1919 announces that it has cancelled today’s training session due to serious food poisoning that affected twenty-one members of the team, including players and staff, culminating in a series of illnesses felt during the return journey from Genoa after the first leg of the playout match played yesterday against Sampdoria. The situation required the intervention of ambulances upon the group’s arrival at Salerno Costa d’Amalfi airport and the subsequent hospitalisation of a large part of those involved.
“… Therefore, pending investigative feedback on the incident, US Salernitana 1919 announces that it has forwarded a formal request to the LNPB to postpone the match against Sampdoria, currently scheduled for Friday 20 June. Salernitana have attached the medical records of its members to the League, in hope that their request to postpone their next game will be met.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
