A Filipino woman who gained online fame for videos of her unusual eating habits has died after consuming a highly poisonous “devil crab” for a social media video.
Emma Amit, 51, and several friends went to collect seafood from a mangrove forest near their home on the island of Palawan in the Philippines, on Feb 4. They then brought the shellfish home to cook for a video on Facebook and Tiktok.
After boiling and seasoning the seafood, Amit picked up a poisonous “devil” crab and ate it for her viewers to see.
The following day, neighbours said that Amit fell severely ill and had to be taken to a local clinic. She began experiencing seizures, followed by her lips turning dark blue, leading her to be transferred to a hospital.
Doctors were not able to save her. She died on Feb 6, just two days after eating the “devil crab”.
Devil reef crabs are found throughout the Indo-Pacific region where they live in coral reefs. They contain poisonous substances which are also found in pufferfish.
Philippine authorities have since issued a warning for the public to be careful when eating wild seafood.
