Tainted rice wine kills 15 people in Cambodia

Rice wine with a high level of methanol has killed at least 15 people and left 78 in hospital in Cambodia in recent weeks, the country’s health ministry announced last Friday.

Patients recovering from the toxic rice wine poisoning at a hospital in Cambodia (Photo credit: Khmer Times)

Villagers from Kompong Chhnang province, 90 kilometres from the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, started to fall ill after drinking the toxic rice wine at a few funerals.

Homemade rice wine is a staple at Cambodian festivals, weddings and funerals, according to a report by International Business Times.

Health authorities said the wines contain “above normal quantities” of methanol but did not specify how much more. The usual level is 0.15%.

Mam Bunheng, Cambodia’s health minister, urged residents to stop drinking homemade rice wines, as refining wine at home is often the primary cause of concentrated levels of methanol.

In 2015, methanol-tainted rice wine killed 19 people and sent 200 people to hospitals in Kratie province in northeastern Cambodia.