Twenty-one labourers died after drinking toxic home-made liquor in northern India, police said Sunday, in the latest incident of alcohol poisoning in the country. Police in Uttar Pradesh state's Etah district said the victims started to vomit and fall sick, complaining of severe stomach aches and blurred vision after consuming the illicit moonshine late Friday.
Earlier the toll was reported at 17, with 12 people hospitalised. However four of those have since died, police said. "Four more people succumbed to the poisoning. The total deaths are 21 now," senior district police officer, Visarjan Singh Yadav, told AFP by telephone, adding that others remain ill in hospital.
A police officer told AFP that a local vendor was arrested late Saturday after police registered a formal case against him for culpable homicide.
"The vendor obviously mixed some chemical in the last batch... police are investigating the matter," the officer, who requested anonymity, told AFP without specifying the chemical used in this case. Bootleggers are often found adding methanol - a highly toxic form of alcohol sometimes used as an anti-freeze or fuel - in their home-brew liquor to increase the alcoholic content of the drink. If ingested, it can cause blindness and liver damage and can kill in larger concentrations.
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