Nearly 200 People Reportedly Poisoned by Carbon Monoxide During Christmas Party in London

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - About 200 people suffered carbon monoxide poisoning during a Christmas party at a Turkish restaurant in London, the British pressnewspaper reported, citing a health worker.

The incident occurred at a Turkish restaurant Gokyuzu in the Chingford district of London on Wednesday night, with the first patients arriving at the hospital at around 23:00 GMT, a UK’s National Health Service worker told journalists.

"People were just at the restaurant eating and then everybody just started falling ill - they all thought they had food poisoning. They were calling 111 and they sent them to our hospital and because there was 200 people. They had to split them up and send them to different hospitals around London," the worker said on condition of anonymity.

The employee specified that the hospital he or she works at, received about 40 people and "all had high levels of carbon monoxide in their system, and they were all from that same Christmas party."

Initially, it was assumed that the affected people had food poisoning, since they fell ill while eating, the newspaper said, specifying that they were actually experiencing symptoms of carbon-monoxide poisoning due to a leak in the restaurant.

A Gokyuzu staff member confirmed they are aware of the incident, but the Turkish restaurant is still accepting bookings on its website despite the incident, according to the report.