Health officials in Mozambique are investigating the deaths of 69 people who drank a traditional homemade beer called Pombe – and they’re testing whether the brew was deliberately poisoned with deadly bile from the gallbladder of a crocodile.

This happened at a child’s funeral, way out in the boondocks in a village called Chitima along Lake Cahora Bassa in Tete province.  The child’s mother was reportedly among the fatalities, as was the owner of the drink stand who provided the pombe, and her daughter and nephew.  169 others were sickened and in hospital, with as many as many as 35 in serious condition, according to Radio Mozambique. 

Police and health officials are running the investigation.  They sent samples of blood and beer more than 1,200 kilometers south to the main hospital in the capital city Maputo.  One district health official said that a common method of poisoning in that area was using crocodile bile.