No fewer than six people died and 20 hospitalised after drinking illegally-brewed alcohol in a community in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, police and local officials said on Tuesday.
The villagers, mostly poor farmers and workers, fell ill after drinking the poisonous alcohol in Barabanki district on Monday night.
“They procured the liquor from a local vendor who had been arrested,’’ District Police Chief, Ajay Sahani, said.
“Many of those who drank the liquor started complaining of severe abdominal pain; six people, including four from one family, have died due to the tainted liquor,’’ Senior Administration Official, Sandeep Gupta, said by phone.
Several of those hospitalised were in a serious condition, and local media reported a higher toll of 10 people killed.
State Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, has ordered an inquiry and some officials have been suspended for neglect of duties.
The illegal liquor trade thrives in India, because it is much cheaper than commercially-produced alcohol.
In February, 151 people, mostly tea-plantation workers, died after drinking toxic alcohol in one of the country’s worst liquor poisonings in recent years.
