At least 36 people have died and more than 60 are being treated in hospitals after consuming contaminated alcoholic beverages in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
Since Wednesday (19), more than 100 people have suffered from vomiting, stomach pains and diarrhea. The group required hospital treatment in Kallakurichi district, 250 kilometers by road from the state capital, Chennai, the spokesman said.
The state government said it has taken disciplinary action against at least ten officials, including the district’s chief administrator and its police chief.
“I was shocked and saddened to hear the news… Action was also taken against the authorities who were unable to prevent it,” Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said in an X post.
Police arrested four people for selling illicit liquor and seized 200 liters of the liquor mixed with methanol, the state government said.
Deaths from illegally produced alcohol, known locally as “hooch” or “country liquor,” are a regular occurrence in India, where many cannot afford branded spirits.
The Tamil Nadu government said it was also taking steps to identify people involved in the production of methanol – a toxic chemical normally used for industrial purposes.
An ANI video, in which Reuters has a minority stake, showed health officials transporting patients in ambulances to a hospital, while another photo showed several people outside a morgue in Kallakurichi.
More than a dozen people died last year in a similar incident in a nearby district of Tamil Nadu.
Source: CNN Brasil
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