Bali probes cholera claims

Bali probes cholera claims

DENPASAR, Bali: The Bali provincial administration is taking seriously a claim made by a group of 19 Japanese tourists that they contracted cholera during their recent visit to the island.

Chief of the Bali tourism office I Gusti Ketut Gde Darsika said yesterday that tourism authorities would investigate the claim made after the Japanese returned home.

"We want to know the tourists' identities, their travel agent, which resorts they visited and where they had meals," Darsika was quoted by Antara news agency.

He said he is cautious when receiving such complaints because there is always a possibility that the disease was contracted elsewhere, maybe another country.

"There is a possibility that they got cholera from food they consumed in another country," he said.

He acknowledged that in the past a seafood restaurant, investigated following claims by a tourist that he came down with gastric problems after eating there, was found to serve bad fish. (rms)