25 Indian tea workers killed by bootleg alcohol

Twenty-five members of a tribe of Indian tea-pickers, including 15 women, died within hours of drinking poisoned alcohol, police said yesterday. The deaths in the northeastern state of Assam came less than two weeks after tainted liquor killed about 100 people in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand states. All of the latest victims worked at the Salmora tea estate in Assam’s Golaghat district.

On top of the dead, dozens were being treated in two local hospitals. Most of the patients complained of severe vomiting and stomach pain. “We tried our best but failed to save them,” said Ganesh Bora, a senior doctor at the Jorhat Medical College hospital. They died within hours of consuming the bootleg alcohol.

“They bought the country liquor from a seller and consumed it on Thursday night, falling ill almost straight away,” Dhiraj Das, a senior Golaghat district official, said. Fifty-five people were taken to hospital after the alcohol was consumed, and many were already dead by the time they arrived.