Toxic alcohol death toll mounts to 39 in Pakistan
Print Edition
THIRTY-NINE people have now died after drinking home-made liquor mixed with aftershave on Christmas Eve in central Pakistan, officials said yesterday, including two out of the four suspects accused of creating the toxic brew.
Police and hospital officials added 23 of the 121 people stricken in the incident, which happened in the town of Toba Tek Singh, some 340 kilometers south of Islamabad, are still in hospital.
“So far 39 people have died,” said Atif Imran, the police official who is investigating the case. Most of the dead were Christians. Imran added that two of the four suspects accused of preparing the mix had died while the other two were had been charged with murder and terrorism related offenses.
Though legal breweries exist in Pakistan, alcohol sales and consumption are banned for Muslims and tightly regulated for minorities and foreigners.
While wealthy Pakistanis buy alcohol on the black market, the poor often resort to home brews that can contain methanol, commonly used in anti-freeze and fuel. Eleven Christians died in October after consuming toxic liquor in the Punjab.
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