Residents of crisis-hit Mayotte warned to avoid 'defective' bottled water
People in the French overseas department of Mayotte battling a dual water crisis and cholera epidemic have been warned not to drink a batch of "defective" bottled water imported to the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Health authorities said water bottles from the Cristaline Elena brand with the M1 03/11/25 batch number "smelled of hydrocarbons" and were not safe for consumption.
The number of bottles affected was not revealed, but they are believed to have been distributed to several supermarkets.
An earlier batch of Cristaline bottles was deemed unfit for consumption last January.
Access to drinking water has been severely disrupted on Mayotte since September – with running tap water to homes cut off one day out of every three.
Devastating drought
France’s poorest department, Mayotte is facing its worst drought since 1997. Its water supply depends largely on rainwater.
The lack of rain has been aggravated by poor infrastructure and investment in a territory that is also under pressure from illegal immigration from the neighbouring Comoros.
Toddler dies as France's Mayotte seeks to contain cholera epidemic
How overseas Mayotte became 'a department apart' within France
Making things worse is a recent cholera epidemic that claimed its first life, a three-year-old boy, last week.
Many inhabitants of live in unsanitary conditions with very limited access to water.
Read more on RFI English
Read also:
Cholera cases in the French department of Mayotte double in two days
Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory, hit by crippling social crisis
Second major security operation begins in France's Mayotte
