Tainted alcohol kills scores in India
Tainted alcohol kills scores in India
Toxic bootleg brew thought to have been spiked with methanol kills more than 100 people in West Bengal.
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2011 07:23
Most of the victims are day labourers who can often buy the liquor for little as twenty cents a bottle [AJE]
More than a hundred people have died after drinking toxic alcohol in India's West Bengal state, police say.
Day labourers and other poor workers in the village of Sangrampur, about 30 kilometres south of Kolkata, began falling ill late on Tuesday after drinking the bootleg brew, according to district magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam.
Some 100 others were being treated in hospital, with fears the death toll could rise.
Police have arrested four people in connection with making and distributing the methanol-spiked liquid, which is also used as a fuel, solvent and anti-freeze.
Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri reporting from New Delhi says: "Most of the people can't afford good quality alcohol so they buy cheap version, which are often laced with methanol to make them potent."
"Bootleg alcohol is very common, thousands die of alcohol poisoning across India every year," said our reporter.
Toxic alcohol deaths are a regular occurrence in India, last week, the state of Gujarat brought in a new law making the illegal manufacture and sale of toxic alcohol there punishable by death.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the state of West Bengal, has promised a crackdown on toxic alcohol.
"I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor," he said.
Furious villagers ransacked the illegal alcohol shops and breweries, local police told the AFP news agency.
Commonly called desi daroo or country-made alcohol in India, the drink costs as little as 10 rupees (20 US cents) and is often spiked with methyl alcohol and industrial spirits.
Source: Agencies
Tainted alcohol kills scores in India - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English
Tainted alcohol kills scores in India
Toxic bootleg brew thought to have been spiked with methanol kills more than 100 people in West Bengal.
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2011 07:23
Most of the victims are day labourers who can often buy the liquor for little as twenty cents a bottle [AJE]
More than a hundred people have died after drinking toxic alcohol in India's West Bengal state, police say.
Day labourers and other poor workers in the village of Sangrampur, about 30 kilometres south of Kolkata, began falling ill late on Tuesday after drinking the bootleg brew, according to district magistrate Narayan Swarup Nigam.
Some 100 others were being treated in hospital, with fears the death toll could rise.
Police have arrested four people in connection with making and distributing the methanol-spiked liquid, which is also used as a fuel, solvent and anti-freeze.
Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri reporting from New Delhi says: "Most of the people can't afford good quality alcohol so they buy cheap version, which are often laced with methanol to make them potent."
"Bootleg alcohol is very common, thousands die of alcohol poisoning across India every year," said our reporter.
Toxic alcohol deaths are a regular occurrence in India, last week, the state of Gujarat brought in a new law making the illegal manufacture and sale of toxic alcohol there punishable by death.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the state of West Bengal, has promised a crackdown on toxic alcohol.
"I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor," he said.
Furious villagers ransacked the illegal alcohol shops and breweries, local police told the AFP news agency.
Commonly called desi daroo or country-made alcohol in India, the drink costs as little as 10 rupees (20 US cents) and is often spiked with methyl alcohol and industrial spirits.
Source: Agencies
Tainted alcohol kills scores in India - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English
- or 
-
