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on the evening of september 12, local time, several chinese tourists from the same tour group developed diarrhea symptoms after dining at a chinese restaurant in moscow. according to russian media reports, the restaurant manager has been detained. documents provided by the police to tourists show that the incident resulted in nine chinese citizens being sent to a local hospital in moscow.

a few days ago, the relevant person in charge of the local travel agency involved told red star news that the restaurant has been open for many years and has long cooperated with china travel service. it is not clear why this situation occurred. the travel agency has coordinated the tourists to seek medical treatment and will also discuss compensation with the tourists.

many tourists said that the travel agency has not given a clear explanation after the incident, and compensating only two attractions is not enough to make up for the impact, and they should be compensated.

many people suffered diarrhea after dining in moscow

someone is weak and hits his head

on september 15, several tourists told red star news reporters that when they were traveling in russia, many of them developed diarrhea symptoms after dining at a restaurant in moscow arranged by the tour guide.

the tourists said that they were part of a tour group that departed from chengdu to russia on september 11, and that they signed contracts with different travel agencies. the first stop of the trip was moscow, and the group had 25 people, including many elderly people. on the evening of september 12, local time, they were led by a tour guide to a chinese restaurant in moscow for dinner. that night, some people had diarrhea and fever symptoms. when they gathered the next day, they learned that a total of 9 people in the group had diarrhea symptoms and 4 had fever symptoms.

▲tourists were sent to the hospital. photo provided by the interviewee

according to the tourists' recollections, the chinese restaurant was crowded with people, almost all of them chinese tourists, and the food that day included fish, pig's trotters, braised pork, zucchini, tomato soup, etc. they initially suspected that the meat was problematic, but later when communicating, they found that some people in the group who only ate vegetarian dishes also had symptoms. photos sent by tourists showed that some elderly people were dizzy due to diarrhea at night, bumped into the wall while walking, and had a red and swollen head. some people could not control their diarrhea and stained the sheets.

an elderly tourist with a serious condition told the reporter that at noon on september 13, an ambulance sent several seriously ill people to the hospital. due to the hospital's efficiency problems, they did not leave until the evening. during the period, they only had blood and stool tests, and the results showed that they were infected with bacteria of unknown causes. they prescribed medicine for them to buy on their own. the tourist also said that on the evening of the 13th, the russian police questioned them for about an hour and asked them to sign several documents. during the period, there were only a few international students who acted as interpreters, and the communication was not smooth. she was not clear about the specific content of the documents to be signed.

a tourist told reporters that when the police were recording their statements, they showed some tourists a video of the kitchen, which showed that the kitchen was very messy, the fish were dead, and the water in the fish pond was dirty and yellow.

afterwards, 14 passengers in the group with milder illnesses or no symptoms continued to travel to st. petersburg, while several passengers with more serious illnesses stayed in moscow for treatment. during this period, some tourists gradually left moscow to continue their journey after their condition improved.

the travel agency said it had cooperated with the hotel for many years without incident.

contacting all parties to treat sick tourists

on the evening of september 15, the reporter contacted the person in charge of the travel agency through the tour group leader. the person in charge said that he was an employee of a local travel agency in russia. the passengers signed contracts with multiple domestic travel agencies. these domestic travel agencies were group tour agencies, and his travel agency was a local agency. this model is very common in the tourism industry and complies with legal regulations.

the person in charge said that after the guests developed health problems, the travel agency has been actively contacting medical treatment, and some tourists are still hospitalized. tourists with mild symptoms or no symptoms have gone to st. petersburg according to the itinerary, and some tourists continued their journey after receiving treatment.

during the medical treatment process, due to the differences between russian and chinese hospitals, the hospital efficiency was low, and some sick passengers requested injections and infusions but were rejected by local doctors, which led to dissatisfaction among some tourists. however, the travel agency continued to communicate and arranged for some passengers to receive hospitalization, infusion and other treatments.

regarding the cause of the incident, the person in charge said that the investigation team is still investigating and the specific results are not yet clear. the person in charge said that this restaurant has been open in russia for many years, and travel agencies from china would come to this restaurant for meals. there have been no food safety issues before. she also mentioned that group meals are served in large quantities at one time, and tourists with symptoms are not at the same table. the restaurant received 15 tour groups that day, and only their group and another group had symptoms, but the symptoms of the other tour group were very mild.

regarding the related expenses, the person in charge said that the cost of tourists' treatment is covered by insurance, but other additional expenses such as hotel, train tickets, car fees, etc. are paid by the travel agency. the travel agency also gave two attractions that were originally paid for by the tourists who can continue their trip. some tourists expressed their understanding of the travel agency's handling and will not file a claim. some tourists asked the travel agency to take responsibility and they will negotiate compensation with the tourists after completing the treatment and itinerary.

local reports say the restaurant's owner has been detained

tourists said the travel agency should compensate

according to russian media reports, on september 14, the meshchensky district court of moscow, russia announced that the head of a chinese restaurant in moscow was sentenced to detention until november 13 for causing food poisoning to four chinese people.

the report mentioned that a young couple and an elderly couple dined at a chinese restaurant called vandi in moscow and ordered steamed carp and rice. soon, they were sent to the hospital and hospitalized due to symptoms of poisoning such as fever, diarrhea, and vomiting.

tourists in the tour group told reporters that the four people who suffered from food poisoning mentioned in the report were the first members of the tour group to show symptoms, and later other people in the group also developed symptoms.

documents issued by the russian police provided by the travelers mentioned that on september 12, 2024, employees of the "vandi" restaurant and employees of product suppliers provided services that did not meet the life safety or health requirements of consumers, and nine chinese citizens were sent to the hospital.

▲documents issued by the russian police (photo provided by the interviewee)

the tour notice provided by the passenger shows that this travel product is an "8-day fun tour of russia", and the itinerary includes cities such as moscow and st. petersburg.

in the "local dining situation", it is mentioned that "most overseas group meals are in chinese restaurants, with ten people per table. group meals are mainly for filling, so please be tolerant of guests with picky tastes. most chinese restaurants in russia mainly serve northeastern cuisine. if guests from the south are not used to it, they can prepare some pickled vegetables to go with the meal before departure. please understand."

the travel contract signed by both parties also states that "if the outbound agency has the conditions to perform but still refuses to perform its obligations under this contract upon the request of the tourist, the outbound agency shall pay the tourist a penalty of 30% of the total travel expenses; if the outbound agency causes serious consequences such as personal injury or detention to the tourist, the tourist may also request the outbound agency to pay compensation of more than one time but less than three times the travel expenses." however, there is also an exemption clause in the contract, "if the personal and property rights of the tourist are damaged due to third-party infringement or other reasons that cannot be attributed to the outbound agency, the outbound agency shall not bear compensation liability."

some tourists told red star news that the restaurant arranged by the travel agency had problems, causing diarrhea and other symptoms, affecting the trip, and the travel agency should bear the responsibility. other tourists said that the travel agency's attempt to solve the problem by giving away travel projects was not reasonable. on the afternoon of september 16, a tourist who was already in st. petersburg told reporters that the tour leader said that the travel agency leaders would discuss relevant matters with them on the 17th.

lawyer's statement:

travel agencies should be held responsible for failing to fulfill their security obligations

tourists should first negotiate compensation with travel agencies

fu jian, director of henan zejin law firm, told red star news that the travel agency should bear certain responsibilities in this matter because, as the organizer of tourism services, they have the obligation to ensure the safety and health of tourists during the tour. if the travel agency can prove that the diarrhea was caused by the negligence of the hotel, and their cooperation with the hotel clearly stipulates the responsibilities that the hotel should bear, then it can be considered as a third-party liability. however, the travel agency still needs to bear the losses caused to tourists due to improper choices.

tourists should first negotiate compensation matters with the travel agency. if there is a clear division of responsibilities and compensation agreement between the travel agency and the hotel, then after the travel agency assumes the compensation liability, it can seek reimbursement from the hotel based on these agreements.

regarding the 1-3 times compensation stipulated in the contract, fu jian believes that, according to common sense, the purpose of this compensation is to protect the losses directly caused to tourists by travel agencies. travel agencies have choices and a certain degree of control over hotels, but they cannot be equated with the travel agencies themselves, so they may not support one to three times compensation.

yang hangyuan, senior partner of weiheng law firm, believes that in such incidents, it is unrealistic to ask travelers to hold overseas restaurants accountable. travel agencies failed to fulfill their protection obligations in this process and should bear certain compensation liability. this is in line with the principle of public welfare and is also conducive to urging travel agencies to improve their itinerary arrangements and services. however, in actual discretion, the court may not support travel agencies to bear all compensation liability.