The death toll from a batch of toxic illegal alcohol in India has risen to 53, media reported yesterday, 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 drank the illegal alcohol on Tuesday.
More than 100 people were rushed to hospital, but some were too sick for medics to save.
An AFP photographer, who had visited the hard-hit Kallakurichi district during the first wave of deaths, reported how the sky was darkened by plumes of smoke that rose from dotted funeral pyres, as wailing relatives gathered to mourn.
Hundreds 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.
To increase its potency, the liquor is often spiked with methanol which can cause blindness and death.
The Indian Express yesterday quoted a local councillor, Palraj, describing how poor labourers in Kallakurichi regularly bought the liquor in plastic bags costing 60 rupees, which they would drink before work.
