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Death Toll of Uganda's Fake Gin Poisoning Rises |
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Monday, 09 November 2009 11:18 |
GULU, Uganda — Death toll of a series of poisoning for the past week caused by locally made potent liquor adulterated with methanol has risen to 27 while over 50 were hospitalized, local police said here on Monday.
Police have arrested 15 people in possession of local gin, said Martin Amoru, the police commander for northern region, adding that four have been apprehended and remanded to Gulu central prison.
In addition, the police have impounded 1,500 20-liter jerry cans of local gin being supplied in Gulu district for the past two days. Another two more trucks loaded with jerry cans of liquor have also been impounded over the weekend.
"When the victims recover from the hospital they should be produced in court to reveal where they drunk the gin, we want the suppliers to be arrested," said Norbert Mao, the Gulu district chairman.
The fake gin killed another 19 people in western Uganda in September this year, prompting the government to ban the sale of gin in sachets and sent out warning messages through radio stations.
"We heard over the radio that there was a poisonous alcohol killing people in Gulu, I didn't know that I was taking it', said Konsiano Kidega, one of the survivors from Palaro Mede, a village 45km north of Gulu town.
His three colleagues who had the same gin with him at the bar died after rushed to the hospital.
"The alcohol was tasting different, it was sweet and the bar attendant told me it was a new brand of brewed alcohol," recalled David Olok, another survivor, who had a drink after working in his garden on Thursday.
"Villagers here don't care, they drink anything alcoholic provided it makes them feel high and they end up consuming this poisonous gin," said Santos Uhuru, the local leader from Koro, who advocated for the closure of all bars in the village centers.
Twenty liters of the brewed gin cost 60,000 Ugandan shillings ( about 30 U.S. dollars). Some unscrupulous local brewers are reported to be adding methanol, a lethal industrial additive, to their products for bigger profit.
After consuming methanol, people can develop headache, vomiting, flashes of light, blurred vision or blindness and deaths within 12 to 24 hours.
At least 40 people died after drinking alcohol mixed with methanol in September 2006 across the East African country, which was listed by the World Health Organization as the world's leading alcohol consumer.
Copyright 2009 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
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