Nine people including 8 children are dead and at least 78 others have been hospitalized after eating sea turtle meat on an East African island. According to the National Institutes of Health website, eating marine turtles can cause chelonitoxism, a rare and potentially deadly type of food poisoning. The deaths took place on Pemba Island in the Zanzibar archipelago. The area is an independent region of the country of Tanzania. The exact species of sea turtle consumed was not immediately known Wednesday nor was the date of the first reported hospitalization or death. Zanzibar authorities deployed a disaster management team to the region instructing people to avoid eating sea turtles.