- A deadly mix of a locally brewed drink was laced with toxic methanol.
- Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin says the arrests were made over deaths.
- Many victims are in serious condition and fighting for their lives, authorities say.
In a tragic incident in India, a batch of illegal toxic alcohol has claimed the lives of at least 34 people and more than 100 have been hospitalized, Tamil Nadu state officials reported Thursday.
The deadly mixture of locally brewed arack drink was laced with poisonous methanol, said Chief Minister MK Stalin, the Indian Press Trust the news agency reported.
Stalin said arrests had been made over the deaths and warned that such crimes “ruin society and will be suppressed with an iron fist,” according to a statement from his office.
Hundreds of people die every year in India from cheap alcohol made in clandestine distilleries.
To increase its potency, methanol is often added to the liquor, which can cause blindness, liver damage and death.
In the case of Tamil Nadu, more than 100 people were hospitalized according to MS Prasanth, a senior government official in the state's Kallakurichi district, cited by Indian media.
The state's governor, RN Ravi, was “deeply shocked” by the deaths, adding that “many more victims are in serious condition fighting for (their) lives,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Tamil Nadu is not a dry state, but liquor traded on the black market is priced lower than alcohol sold legally.
The sale and consumption of liquor is banned in several other parts of India, further fueling the thriving black market for potent and sometimes deadly moonshine.
Last year, poisonous alcohol killed at least 27 people in one go in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, while in 2022, at least 42 people died in Gujarat.
