Five diners at a restaurant in India vomited blood and had to be hospitalized after being served dry ice as a mouth freshener, stomach-churning video shows.
The bizarre incident took place at Laforestta Cafe in the northern city of Gurugram on Saturday, leading to the arrest of the eatery’s manager on suspicion of poisoning.
Ankit Kumar told police that he, his wife and their friends – identified as Neha Sabarwal, Manika Goenka, Pritika Rustagi, Deepak Aroda and Himani – were finishing their meal at the café when a waiter arrived at their table with packets of what was billed as traditional sugar-and-spice palate cleansers, according to Indian Express.
Kumar, who was holding his one-year-old daughter in his arms, did not ingest the contents of the packets, but the other members of his party did.
As soon as the unsuspecting diners consumed the substance, their mouths started burning and bleeding, and they vomited blood, according to the police.
Viral cellphone video from the restaurant shows the victims sticking out their tongues, with one visibly distraught woman crying out in pain.
A man can be seen rinsing his mouth with water and spitting it out onto the floor.
The customers were rushed to an area hospital, where they spent two days before being discharged late Monday night, reported India Today.
Kumar said a doctor who examined one of the packets later confirmed to him that it contained dry ice.
Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide that is used as a cooling agent.
Ingesting it can cause severe burns to the esophagus and stomach potentially resulting in death.Â
Police on Tuesday arrested Laforestta’s manager, identified as 30-year-old Gagandeep, on a charge of poisoning “with the intent to cause hurt or harm.”
During a preliminary interrogation, Gagandeep allegedly said “it was due to negligence by the restaurant staff that a packet of mouth freshener and dry ice got mixed mistakenly. He said there was no ill-intention towards the guests and what happened was unfortunate,” a law enforcement official said.
Cops said they were still searching for the owner of the café, Amritpal Singh, who was described as being on the run.
