At least 36 people died and about 50 others were hospitalized in western India. India after drinking contaminated alcohol, according to police.
All have consumed illegal spirits in the districts of Botad and Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol are illegal.
“About 10 people were arrested and approximately 475 liters of the liquid was recovered,” said Ashish Bhatia, director general of Gujarat police.
Bhatia claimed that one of the prisoners stole methanol from a factory in Gujarat and sold it to a cousin, who then sold it to others who diluted the chemical with water and sold it as liquor. Methanol can make people feel tipsy, but even a very small amount can be toxic.
Deaths from illegal alcohol consumption – known colloquially as “country made liquor” – are not uncommon in India.
Although Gujarat and some other Indian states criminalize the sale and consumption of alcohol, the practice is legal in most of the country’s 1.3 billion people – 22.5% of whom live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank. .
But even in states where drinking is legal, smuggled alcohol remains popular, especially in poorer rural areas.
The alcoholic beverage is typically brewed in villages before being smuggled into cities, where it can be sold for around 10 cents a glass – about a third of the price of legally manufactured liquor.
According to SafeProof, homemade alcohol can become deadly when other liquids, such as alcohol or methanol, are added to the mix.
Methanol poisoning can cause nausea, vomiting, and heart or respiratory failure, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It can also cause brain fog, dizziness, drowsiness, headaches and an inability to coordinate muscle movements, the CDC said.
“The byproducts of methanol metabolism cause a buildup of acid in the blood (metabolic acidosis), blindness, and death,” according to the CDC.
This week’s deaths are the latest tragedy in India’s long battle to control the illicit trade.
As of February 2019, at least 154 people have died and more than 200 have been hospitalized after drinking contaminated alcohol in the northeastern state of Assam.
Earlier that month, 80 people died in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand after drinking illegal alcohol, prompting regional police to crack down on smugglers.
Source: CNN Brasil
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