150 killed by bad booze in India’s Assam

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February 25, 2019

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150 killed by bad booze in India’s Assam

Source: AP | 00:00 UTC+8 February 25, 2019 |

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At least 150 people have died and about 200 people have been hospitalized after drinking tainted liquor in two separate incidents in India’s remote northeast, authorities said yesterday.

The victims of one of the most deadly bootleg liquor-related incidents in India were mostly tea plantation workers in Golaghat and Jorhat districts in Assam state, said Himanta Biswa Sharma, the state’s health minister.

Assam is India’s largest tea-producing state, with more than 1,000 plantations producing more than 50 percent of Indian tea.

The workers consumed the tainted liquor laced with methyl alcohol, a chemical that attacks the central nervous system, on Thursday and started falling unconscious. They were rushed to nearby hospitals and the death toll rose to 150 by early yesterday, police and health officials said.

Sharma said about 200 people who fell sick after drinking the toxic liquor are in hospitals, some in critical condition.

Officials said 50 patients have died in the past 24 hours.

The owner of a local brewing unit and 13 others have been arrested, said top police official Mukesh Agarwal. He said police are pursuing other people.

“We shall not spare anyone involved in manufacture and distribution of the tainted liquor,” Minister Sharma said.

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150 killed by bad booze in India’s Assam

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