BENGALURU
\nThe death toll from a batch of toxic illegal alcohol in India has risen to 53, media reported Sunday, as more victims in hospital succumbed to the poisonous brew.
\nTamil Nadu state Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has said the locally brewed arrack drink was laced with poisonous methanol, killing 37 within hours after they drank the illegal alcohol on Tuesday.
\nMore than 100 people were rushed to hospital, but some were too sick for medics to save.
\nHundreds of people die every year in India from cheap alcohol made in backstreet distilleries, but this poisoning is one of the worst in recent years.
\nTo increase its potency, the liquor is often spiked with methanol which can cause blindness, liver damage and death.
\nThe Indian Express newspaper on Sunday quoted a local councilor, Palraj, describing how poor laborers in Kallakurichi district regularly bought the liquor in plastic bags costing 60 rupees ($0.70), which they would drink before work.
\nSome went blind and were rushed to hospital.
\nOthers died rapidly, collapsing in the street.
\n\u201cThe men work just to drink, and the women run the family,\u201d motorized rickshaw driver Shankar, who lives on a street where 23 people died, told the Indian Express.
\nM.S. Prasanth, the top government official in the state\u2019s Kallakurichi district, said \u201c53 people have passed away,\u201d according to the latest figures on Saturday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
\nOther Indian media on Sunday put the toll as high as 55, but there was no immediate official confirmation.
\nPrasanth said that seven people had been arrested in connection with the \u201cspurious liquor tragedy,\u201d PTI added.
\nTamil Nadu is not a dry state, but liquor traded on the black market comes at a lower price than alcohol sold legally.
\nThe Indian Express also spoke to Kolanji, a domestic helper whose husband died on Thursday after drinking a packet of the tainted brew.
\nShe said people drank the moonshine \u201cbecause they cannot afford\u201d alcohol from the government-run shops.
\n\u201cThey start buying packets early in the morning,\u201d she said.
\nSelling and consuming liquor is prohibited in several other parts of India, further driving the thriving black market for potent and sometimes lethal backstreet moonshine.
\nLast year, poisonous alcohol killed at least 27 people in one sitting in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, while in 2022, at least 42 people died in Gujarat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BENGALURU The death toll from a batch of toxic illegal alcohol in India has risen to 53, media reported Sunday, as more victims in hospital succumbed to the poisonous brew. Tamil Nadu state Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has said the locally brewed arrack drink was laced with poisonous methanol, killing 37 within hours after they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-414110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n