MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Two Chinese jiggers quarantined 12 kilometres off Montevideo following mysterious deaths

The jiggers can be seen in the distance

Two Chinese jiggers are in quarantine 12 kilometres off the port of Montevideo following the death of two crew members and the hospitalization of another two in separate incidents.

Uruguayan sanitary authorities so far have been unable to determine the cause of the deaths or the origin of similar symptoms experienced by the other two.

The jiggers Fu Yuan Yu 879 and Fu Yuan Yu 981 arrived from the South Atlantic last week to Montevideo with a dead crewmember on board. Twenty four hours later two other crewmembers developed the same symptoms and were rapidly transferred to a Montevideo hospital.

One of them died a few hours later and the second remains ‘stable’, according to a medical release. However on Monday night a fourth crew member developed similar symptoms, oedemas in the legs, fatigue, respiratory difficulties and heart insufficiency, and was transferred ashore.

Forensic results are expected for Wednesday and will be attached to the court case investigating the death of the Chinese crew members.

“We don’t have a diagnosis yet of the death causes”, admitted Dr Marlene Sica, Director General of the Public Health ministry, but “we can also discard any sanitary risk for the population of Montevideo”.

However, the situation of one of the hospitalized crew member remains ‘very serious’.