Seven people, including a three-year-old, have died on Tanzania's Pemba island after eating poisonous turtle meat, BBC News reported.

A further 38 people were admitted to hospital, but most were discharged and the three who remain are said to be in a stable condition.

Turtle meat is a common delicacy among those living on Tanzania's islands and coastal areas, but the authorities have now banned the consumption of turtles in the area.

In rare cases turtle meat can be toxic because of a type of food poisoning known as chelonitoxism

Its exact cause is not known but it is thought to be linked to poisonous algae which the turtles eat, according to the Turtle Foundation charity.

In a message on Twitter, Zanzibar's President Hussein Mwinyi sent his condolences to the families affected.