Aligarh: Hooch tragedy strikes again; five dead, 22 hospitalized
Five people died and at least 22 took ill after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in a village in Aligarh district, police said on Thursday. This is the second liquor tragedy in this district in recent days. In the earlier case, at least 36 people died after consuming illicit liquor while a post-mortem was conducted on 35 others fearing the same cause of death.
Laborers found the liquor dumped in a canal
On Wednesday night, some brick kiln laborers consumed country-made liquor dumped in a canal near the Rothera village in the Jawan area, police said. "It appears that some persons involved in the spurious liquor trade dumped their entire stock in the canal fearing a raid," Senior Superintendent of Police, Kalanidhi Naithani said talking about the retrieved alcohol.
They consumed it but fell sick shortly afterward
According to locals, after discovering the liquor, the laborers started celebrating but shortly afterward they fell sick. An alarm was raised and a police party from nearby Jawan Police Station rushed to the spot and took the victims to a hospital. Chief Superintendent of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital, Dr. Harris Manzur said out of the five deaths so far, three were brought dead.
Hospital saw a busy night as patients kept arriving
"Doctors are battling to save the lives of the remaining 22 victims," Dr. Manzur said, adding that patients kept arriving at the hospital throughout the night. Till Thursday morning, 27 people had turned up. If some of these patients would have been hospitalized earlier, we could have saved more lives, the doctor said. The first six hours are crucial in such cases.
Raids to recover illicit liquor are being conducted
Meanwhile, the police said that the matter is being investigated and a case has been filed against unnamed persons. In a previous incident that took place on May 28 last week, many officials were suspended and ten persons allegedly involved in the trade of illicit liquor were arrested on Monday as raids continue all over the district.
