An 18-year-old tourist died in Digha on Thursday night owing to an allergic reaction to crab meat she had eaten from a seaside shack hours before, prompting a cry for better hygiene in eateries on beaches.

Deceased Ritwika Bhagat, a resident of Birbhum’s Rampurhat, had come to Digha with her family on Thursday.

The incident comes barely a month after Soumyadeep Sikdar, 24, from Calcutta’s Behala died in Digha under identical circumstances.

“Both post-mortems are identical and show clearly an underlying, undetected allergy in both victims that causedheart failure. But these incidents can be prevented if vendors adopt better public health measures,” said Digha hospital superintendent Sandip Bagh.

Residents of the area said they had seen district officials raiding unsanitary shacks a few years ago after it was found that crabs were being soaked in chemicals, but added the initiative had “waned”.

“We have asked the food safety department to resume these checks and take stringent action against errant shacks,” said Buddhadeb Mal, officer-in-charge, Digha police station.

Hospital officials added that they were used to seeing frequent allergy cases in their hospital among unsuspecting patients.

“It does not always turn fatal, but better public awareness is required,” said a source.

“Whatever happened to her happened very quickly. Ritwika was suffering from allergies to certain food and had been undergoing treatment. She had tasted very little crab meat but soon fell ill,” said Rajib Pal, a neighbour who had accompanied the girl and her family on the trip.