Mumbai: Tainted Liquor Kills 41 People, More Still Sick

Forty-one people were dead in Mumbai, India, Friday after drinking illegally brewed, tainted liquor.

At least 18 people died just hours after they drank the liquor on Thursday, Constable Praveen Satpal told The Associated Press. Other died during the night and on Friday, while more continued to be treated in hospitals.

Initial death estimates in the 30s jumped to 41 on Friday, and more who are in critical condition may die.

The liquor was sold in a slum area to poor workers, AFP reported. It’s not uncommon for illegally brewed alcohol to be spiked with chemicals, the AP said, in an attempt to make it more potent.

Three men have been arrested in connection with brewing the liquor.

Police officials told AFP that eight police officers were suspended for a “negligent approach while discharging their duty” because they didn’t stop the sale of illegally produced liquor on their beat.

The new provider said most bootleg liquor is sold in poor, rural villages, and that it was unusual for such a situation to occur in a large city like Mumbai. This incident was the worst recorded in 10 years, said Dhananjay Kulkarni, the Mumbai police deputy commissioner

“Such a tragedy happened in 2004 when more than 100 deaths took place,” he told AFP.

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