40 people died from drinking moonshine in india

[almaty 19]

HYDERABAD (Reuters) - Forty people have died from drinking home-made alcohol in southern India over the past five days, including 17 attending the funeral of a man who was also poisoned by toxic brew, officials said on Wednesday.

Farmer D. Jaggaiah died on Saturday in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh after consuming moonshine that had been smuggled from neighbouring Orissa.

Ten people died and 16 were hospitalised after toasting Jaggaiah at his funeral in Ratta Kanna village, 730 km (450 miles) north-east of the state capital Hyderabad.

Seven more victims died in hospital on Tuesday, according to local official Y. Chaitanya Murali.

The mourners knew Jaggaiah had died from consuming a deadly brew but, following a custom of drinking toasts at funerals, they apparently assumed their drink was safe. It was not clear whether the same batch of alcohol was to blame for the deaths.

Officials said another 23 people died after drinking country liquor in border villages in Orissa over the past five days. While Andhra Pradesh had banned the production and consumption of so-called country liquor, it is a licensed product in Orissa and smuggling is rampant, officials say.

The drink sells for as little as eight rupees (18 cents) a bottle, one-third of the price of commercial liquor.

Toxic varieties are made from regular spirits, to which bootleggers add a cocktail of ingredients that could include vegetables, battery acid and pieces of old rubber tyre. According to common lore, such ingredients can make the brew more intoxicating.

The deadly mix is then boiled and distilled, and kills hundreds of poor Indians every year.

[rbhigday 0]

HYDERABAD (Reuters) - Forty people have died from drinking home-made alcohol in southern India over the past five days, including 17 attending the funeral of a man who was also poisoned by toxic brew, officials said on Wednesday.

Farmer D. Jaggaiah died on Saturday in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh after consuming moonshine that had been smuggled from neighbouring Orissa.

Ten people died and 16 were hospitalised after toasting Jaggaiah at his funeral in Ratta Kanna village, 730 km (450 miles) north-east of the state capital Hyderabad.

Seven more victims died in hospital on Tuesday, according to local official Y. Chaitanya Murali.

The mourners knew Jaggaiah had died from consuming a deadly brew but, following a custom of drinking toasts at funerals, they apparently assumed their drink was safe. It was not clear whether the same batch of alcohol was to blame for the deaths.

Officials said another 23 people died after drinking country liquor in border villages in Orissa over the past five days. While Andhra Pradesh had banned the production and consumption of so-called country liquor, it is a licensed product in Orissa and smuggling is rampant, officials say.

The drink sells for as little as eight rupees (18 cents) a bottle, one-third of the price of commercial liquor.

Toxic varieties are made from regular spirits, to which bootleggers add a cocktail of ingredients that could include vegetables, battery acid and pieces of old rubber tyre. According to common lore, such ingredients can make the brew more intoxicating.

The deadly mix is then boiled and distilled, and kills hundreds of poor Indians every year.

Ok you are at the funeral of a man who died from drinking toxis brew and then you drink the same thing? hmmm maybe they a drank it together and took longer to die? either way this is sad!!!

[almaty 19]

just wrong...i drank some american indian moonshine several times..called pimpkin jack..tore my azz up for weeks..

[pedroh 21]

i never ever drink something that's less than 5 bucks lol (well.. color liquors as curacao and melon are not expensive if u buy the generic ones)

but I will never drink Everclear..

[faith 0]

I've had some moonshine that was actually not too horrible. I still had the feeling it was going to make me go blind but hey i had to try it just to say that I did.

[almaty 19]

moonshine is good if mixed..straight it tears you up..use to drink it in college mixed with Kool-Aid in a garbage can... aw, youth

[Jasman0717 9]

####### Home-made beer doesn't sound too bad now

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Unfortunately, the wide popularity of "country liquor" in India is just a basic symptom of "wanting to get a fix cheaply and quickly" prevalent ubiquitously. Many (including soldiers on the battlefield) have tried dangerous tricks such as boiling down boot-polish to get the alcohol. During Prohibition, one trick was to use methanol (wood-alcohol) instead--which led to many blindings and fatalities (though there WAS a perceptible, but nowhere near cent-percent, drop in liquor consumption then).

But the article's premise that "country liquor" is "licenced in Orissa" is rather dubious--it basically goes against the very definition of (and implied euphemism in) the term.

In India, attempts by various states to be "dry" has led to other ways than just smuggling. In the early 1960's, Tamil Nadu (Madras State)'s Chief Minister Bhaktavatsalam put such a law in that state; there was a sudden spurt in applications for minibus licences (with permits for both Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh at least) in districts bordering on (or close to A.P.--including Madras/Chennai). The minibuses would take people across the border (in the case of the largest "market", Chennai, this was to Tada) to have drinks