Friend's death cancels couple's wedding plans
Published:Monday | December 27, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Lucas and Venecia Vall said they had no intention of going ahead with their wedding celebrations here after the death of their Argentinian friend, Aldo Malaspina, last Wednesday night.
Malaspina died from apparent food poisoning after a meal of fish and potato salad. Ten others who ate the meal fell ill and were admitted to the St Ann's Bay Hospital.
"Once the death happened, we never even thought of the wedding again because not only did our friend die, but my husband's mother has been in the Intensive Care Unit since the incident," Mrs Vall told The Gleaner while visiting her mother-in-law, Olga Santini, at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, St James, on Christmas Day.
Malaspina, who came here to celebrate with the Valls, died after eating the meal which he prepared at a villa in Rio Nuevo, St Mary. The fish was purchased from a popular supermarket in Ocho Rios, St Ann.
All those who were hospitalised have been released, except for Santini who had to be transferred to the St James facility.
The wedding celebrations were scheduled to take place at Reggae Beach in Ocho Rios yesterday, one year after the couple exchanged vows in Japan.
"We wanted to celebrate with my family here," said Mrs Vall, a Jamaican university lecturer currently residing in Japan.
Her husband, an Argentinian, is an Internet consultant.
Not so good physically
"We are still processing the death. Apart from that, we are mostly focused on my husband's mothers' health," she said, noting that the rest of the group was "not so good physically".
Vall could not tell The Gleaner the type of fish the group ingested. She, however, revealed that all the supermarket receipts were handed over to the police and they were now awaiting word from the authorities.
Last Friday, the police in St Mary said they had already collected statements in the case.
According to commanding officer for the St Mary Police Division, Superinten-dent Dudley Scott, an investigator had been assigned to the case and was working at completing the probe.
During a press conference last Thursday in Montego Bay, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett was quick to note that the ministries of tourism and health would continue to render critical assistance needed to the group in order to ensure that they return to good health.
"The Ministry of Tourism is implementing measures to provide support for the relatives of the deceased and members of the group as they seek to recover from this regrettable ordeal," he said.