NEW DELHI — At least 29 people died and dozens were hospitalized after drinking illegally brewed liquor in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, officials told local media on Thursday.
The incident occurred in the state’s Kallakurichi district, where more than 100 people are being treated at various hospitals, senior district official MS Prasanth told the Press Trust of India news agency. He added that the number of people in critical condition continues to change, suggesting the death toll could rise.
Ambulances, doctors and specialists from nearby areas have been deployed to the district.
State Chief Minister MK Stalin said in a post on social media platform X that those involved in the crime have been arrested and action has also been taken against officials who failed to prevent it. “These crimes that ruin society will be repressed with an iron fist,” he added.
Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India, where the poor cannot afford licensed brands in government-run stores. Illicit liquor, to which chemicals such as pesticides are often added to increase its potency, has also become a hugely profitable industry, as bootleggers pay no taxes and sell huge quantities of their product to the poor at low prices. .
In 2022, more than 30 people died in the eastern Indian state of Bihar after allegedly drinking contaminated liquor sold without authorization. At the beginning of that same year, at least 28 died for drinking altered liquor in the state of Gujarat. And in 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking contaminated liquor in the northern Indian state of Punjab.
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