At least 35 dead in India from consuming adulterated alcohol

A batch of arrack, a local drink, adulterated with methanol also caused more than 100 hospitalizations. According to the authorities, those responsible have been arrested.

International.- At least Thirty-five people died and 110 were hospitalized after consuming adulterated alcohol in Tamil Nadu statein southern India, a police source said on Thursday (20.06.2024). The batch in question was a mixture of arrack, a distilled drink typical of the region, with methanol, detailed the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, quoted by the Press Trust of India.

Stalin said there had been arrests in the case and vowed to crack down “with an iron fist” on the distilled spirit phenomenon, according to a statement from his office. The local governor said on social network X that he was “shocked” and suspended some of the district’s top police and administrative officials. “The people involved in the crime have been arrested, and action has also been taken against the officers who failed to prevent it,” Stalin said.

According to the Indian daily Hindustan Times, security forces have arrested a 49-year-old man, K. Kannukutti, who was in possession of about 200 litres of adulterated alcohol. Dozens of people consumed adulterated alcohol last Tuesdaysold in plastic packets, a common packaging for cheaper liquor in the Asian country. Many of them suffered from various symptoms that same night such as diarrhoea, vomiting or blurred vision, which alerted the district authorities.

Every year, Hundreds of people die in India from illegally produced cheap alcohol. Sometimes, to make them more potent, these illegal drinks are mixed with methanol, which can cause blindness, severe liver damage and death, sometimes resulting in numerous deaths. In addition, although this is not the case in Tamil Nadu, alcoholic drinks are illegal in several states such as Bihar (north) or Gujarat (west).