Dozens of tourists taken to Washington, DC, hospital for food poisoning

Dozens of people were taken to the hospital after some reported having symptoms of food poisoning Sunday night. (DC Fire and EMS)

More than 50 people on a trip from New York to Washington, D.C., were taken to the hospital Sunday night after about a dozen of them showed signs of food poisoning, officials said.

The group of 48 teenagers and three adults, believed to be tourists from London, were transported to the hospital as a precaution after several people reporting having “gastrointestinal” problems, FOX5 DC reported.

The group had just arrived at Hotel Harrington in Washington.

The group became sick as they were on the way to Washington, with many of them showing symptoms of food poisoning, said Vito Maggiolo, ‎District of Columbia Fire and EMS spokesman.

"We were told that some of the group were ill when they were in New York so we think whatever issue they’ve encountered did not originate here,” he said.

Maggiolo said the first call for assistance came in at around 7 p.m. and then became a “slowly escalating incident,” according to the New York Daily News.

Doctors were investigating whether the sickened group contracted norovirus.

Hotel Harrington is a premiere tourist destination because of its proximity to major D.C. attractions.