Seven customers were rushed to a hospital and their stomachs pumped after a restaurant in eastern China served them liquid detergent instead of fruit juice, according to a report in South China Morning Post (SCMP).
As per the the outlet, the incident took place on January 16 in the Zhejiang province. One of the affected customers, Sister Wukong, was dining along with her family and friends at the restaurant when a waiter brought a bottle of what they all mistook for fruit juice. The woman claimed in a video, which she later deleted from social media, that she and six other people were sent to a hospital to have their stomachs pumped after realising there had been a mistake and that their drinks had a weird flavour.
Gastric suction, also known as stomach pumping, is a procedure that doctors can use to quickly empty the contents of your stomach in case of an emergency.
According to SCMP, the customers were informed that the mix-up was caused by a waitress who had bad eyesight. As per a police officer from the Xucun Police Station, all seven people are in stable condition and will seek compensation from the restaurant later.
The outlet quoted Ms Wukong as saying from the hospital bed, "Let me show you all these people lying here. The seven of us dined together and had to have our stomachs pumped." She claimed her husband took the first sip and informed the group that it had a bitter taste. "I took one sip and swallowed. My throat felt very bad immediately," the woman added.
Later, the waitress acknowledged that she made the error because she was inexperienced and had an eye problem, SCMP stated. Ms Wukong said, "She told us she doesn't normally work for the restaurant and was just helping out for the day."
The outlet further stated that it is unclear what kind of floor cleaner was served to the guests. However, a search on a Chinese online marketplace showed several floor cleaner brands that come in orange juice-like packaging. The packaging is frequently written in foreign languages, which people who don't speak those languages mistake it for some other kind of goods.
