At least eight people have died and up to 20 are ill after attending a wake in the Ayacucho region of southern Peru, health officials in the area say.
The authorities suspect that the food served at the wake was contaminated.
Specialists have been sent to San José de Ushua district to find the source of the contamination.
Local media speculated that the food could have contained rat poison or insecticide.
Local hospitals said 15 people were in a serious condition after eating a meat stew offered to them at the wake of a local man.
Regional health director John Tinco Bautista said that just hours after the wake, those who had attended it began falling ill.
Among those affected are the dead man's two eldest sons. The mayor of the town is also among those taken ill.
The incident comes less than a month after hundreds of Peruvian schoolchildren fell ill after eating breakfasts provided at more than a dozen schools in Cañete province.
The free meals are part of a government programme to ensure schoolchildren from poorer backgrounds receive adequate nutrition.
In that case, the source of the contamination was suspected to have been a fruit juice that had gone off. The company which provided the breakfasts is being sued.
At least eight people have died and up to 20 are ill after attending a wake in the Ayacucho region of southern Peru, health officials in the area say.
The authorities suspect that the food served at the wake was contaminated.
Specialists have been sent to San José de Ushua district to find the source of the contamination.
Local media speculated that the food could have contained rat poison or insecticide.
Local hospitals said 15 people were in a serious condition after eating a meat stew offered to them at the wake of a local man.
Regional health director John Tinco Bautista said that just hours after the wake, those who had attended it began falling ill.
Among those affected are the dead man's two eldest sons. The mayor of the town is also among those taken ill.
The incident comes less than a month after hundreds of Peruvian schoolchildren fell ill after eating breakfasts provided at more than a dozen schools in Cañete province.
The free meals are part of a government programme to ensure schoolchildren from poorer backgrounds receive adequate nutrition.
In that case, the source of the contamination was suspected to have been a fruit juice that had gone off. The company which provided the breakfasts is being sued.
