Cairo: Hundreds of residents in a provincial town north of the Egyptian capital have been hospitalized in the past two days, after showing symptoms of poisoning amid claims by the victims that polluted tapped water was the cause.

One patient, who had been treated of poisoning, died on Saturday in the hospital amid conflicting reports about the cause of his death. Health authorities said that the 54-year-old man from the town of Al Ebrahimya, around 90 kilometres north of Cairo, had died of hepatitis, a common health disorder in Egypt.

His family, meanwhile, claim he had had died due to poisoning allegedly caused by drinking contaminated water.

Nearly 600 people, including children and women from Al Ibrahimya and nearby villages, had been taken to hospitals after suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea and severe stomach pains, according to health authorities.

Most victims were discharged after their conditions improved, officials said.

State media said that Prime Minister Ebrahim Mehleb called from Indonesia, where he was on an official visit, to learn about the health situation in Al Ibrahimya.

Health Minister Adel Adawi, who went to the town, said that it would take at least three days to determine the actual cause of the poisoning after examining samples taken from patients.

The country’s top prosecutor has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Officials insist that the town’s piped water is clean. “We took samples from the tap water. Results came to show that it is fit for human consumption,” said Ayman Abdul Kader, who heads the government-run potable water company in the town.

Locals, however, believe that drinking water was polluted.

“Drinking water is the only cause of this mass poisoning,” Hassan Abdul Moati, a resident of Al Ebrahimya, told semi-official newspaper Al Ahram. “The water had smelled strange before hundreds were taken to hospitals with poisoning symptoms.”

The incident came days after a barge loaded with phosphate capsized in the Nile, the main source of drinking water in Egypt. Irrigation and health authorities have denied any linking between the accident and the mass poisoning cases in Al Ibrahimya.

The mass poisoning outbreak prompted leaders of mosques in the town to warn people over loudspeakers against drinking tap water. Their warning angered the provincial governor Red Abdul Salam, who ordered the clerics be probed for allegedly inciting public fear.

“There are imams from the (Muslim) Brotherhood, who continue to spread sedition and spark fears in Egyptian society,” the governor said in media remarks.

Egypt has seen a surge in unrest in recent months, which authorities have repeatedly blamed on the Brotherhood from which deposed president Mohammad Mursi hails.

The government designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in December 2013-- five months after the army toppled Mursi.