52 dead after drinking beer in Mozambique

At least 52 people have died in the southern African country of Mozambique after drinking beer believed to be poisoned with crocodile bile.

(AAP)

Contaminated traditional beer has killed 52 people in Mozambique, health authorities say.

An additional 51 people were admitted to hospitals in the Chitima and Songo districts in the northeastern Tete province, and 146 more people have reported to hospitals to be examined for the poisoning, district health official Alex Albertini told Radio Mozambique.

Those who drank the contaminated brew were attending a funeral in the region on Saturday, Albertini said.

Pombe, a traditional Mozambican beer, is made from millet or corn flour. Authorities believe that the drink was poisoned with crocodile bile during the course of the funeral.

Blood and traditional beer samples were being sent to the capital Maputo to be tested, said provincial health director Carle Mosse.

"We don't have the capacity to test the samples," she told Radio Mozambique.

Mourners who drank the beer in the morning reported no illness, while those who drank the beer in the afternoon, fell ill, authorities said. They believe the beer must have been poisoned while funeral goers were at the cemetery.

The woman who brewed the beer is also among the dead.