[quote]At least 143 people are now known to have died after consuming toxic alcohol in India's West Bengal state.
Residents of 12 villages in the South 24 Parganas district fell ill after drinking the alcohol. Ten people have been arrested.
Dozens more people are being treated in hospital, with fears the death toll could rise. Many died at home, fearing police would take action against them.
Toxic alcohol deaths are a regular occurrence in India.
Last week, the state of Gujarat brought in a new law making the illegal manufacture and sale of toxic alcohol there punishable by death.
Ransacked
The West Bengal state government has ordered a criminal investigation into the deaths.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced compensation for the families of the victims, adding: "I want to take strong action against those manufacturing and selling illegal liquor."
The affected villages are in the Sangrampur, Magrahat, Usthi and Mandirbazar areas.
The villagers drank the locally brewed alcohol on Tuesday evening and despite falling ill many stayed at home fearing police harassment if they went to hospital, reports the BBC's Amitabha Bhattasali in Calcutta.
By Wednesday morning, a large number of people, including two children, had been admitted to hospitals in the area and the nearby city of Calcutta with symptoms of alcohol poisoning.
Medicines and doctors were rushed to the Diamond Harbour hospital in South 24 Parganas.
One doctor, Saikat Kundu, told the BBC that victims were leaving it too late to come to hospital for treatment, unaware of the severity of the problem.
He said: "Some of them are in so bad a condition that we are not getting even time to treat the patient, to run the saline [drip]... People are coming and will take one or two breaths, then the patient is dying."
Anwar Hassan Mullah told the NDTV channel that he had brought six people to hospital and all had died.[/quote]
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16174531]**SOURCE**[/url]
I actually first heard of this yesterday but I heard about it again today and in almost 24 hours the death toll has more than tripled.
Don't drink, kids.
reminds me of the old 1920's
Is there legal alcohol?
Wait... Toxic alcohol? Isn't it technically already a toxin?
I mean I understand what they're saying but still.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
