This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Toxic alcohol kills 29 in India
More than 100 people have been admitted to hospital and at least 29 killed after drinking toxic alcohol in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The first cases of poisoning occurred in Kharta village near Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, before spreading throughout the Indian state, as reported by the BBC.
Alcohol poisoning is common throughout India with methanol a key ingredient used by unlicensed brewers, that can lead to blindness, liver damage and death.
An investigation into the source of the toxic liquor has been launched, but no arrests have as yet been made.
Government spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary told the AFP news agency that a dozen officials had been suspended over negligence.
In 2011 nearly 170 people died in the Eastern state of West Bengal from alcohol poisoning, while toxic liquor claimed the lives of 107 people in Gujarat in July 2009.
Earlier this year six Pakistani police officers and six senior excise officials were suspended pending an investigation into the deaths of 29 people who had drunk toxic liquor laced with methanol in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.