Death of at least 42 people in India, victims of adulterated alcohol

At least 42 people have died in western India and nearly a hundred others have been hospitalized since Monday, victims of contraband alcohol, police said Thursday.

Senior police officials in the Botad and Ahmedabad districts of Gujarat said at least 42 people died after drinking adulterated alcohol.

“31 people died after drinking adulterated alcohol in Botad. About 50 others were admitted to hospital in the neighboring district of Bhavnagar,” said Bhavnagar District Police Inspector General Ashok Yadav.

And Ahmedabad district has registered eleven deaths according to the district’s inspector general, V. Chandrasekar.

Alcohol is prohibited in this state

Gujarat, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is from, is a state where the consumption and sale of alcohol is prohibited by law.

According to Ashok Yadav, residents of a half-dozen villages drank alcohol supplied by a local smuggler on Sunday.

“The investigation revealed that the victims had consumed industrial methanol, which caused their deaths,” State Interior Minister Harsh Sanghavi said in a statement.

According to Harsh Sanghavi, 97 people have been admitted to the hospital for treatment, two of whom are in critical condition.

State police attacked illegal liquor distilleries across Gujarat and arrested several people, state police chief Ashish Bhatia said Wednesday.

Hundreds of victims every year

Hundreds of people die every year in India from alcohol produced in illegal distilleries.

Of the roughly five billion liters of alcohol consumed annually in the country, about 40% is produced clandestinely, according to the International Spirits and Wine Association of India.

Alcohol is often altered with methanol to increase its potency. If ingested, methanol can cause blindness, liver damage and death.

Last year, 98 people died in the northern state of Punjab after drinking contraband alcohol.

And in 2019, some 150 people died from alcohol poisoning in the northeastern state of Assam, most of whom worked on tea plantations.