Toxic alcohol kills 93 in India, hundreds hospitalisedThe victims worked at local tea estates in the region. The death toll could rise further as both officials said some of the afflicted were in a critical condition. Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that state authorities had collated "at least 80" deaths in the districts. Of the estimated five billion litres of alcohol drunk every year in India, around 40 percent is illegally produced, according to the International Spirits and Wine Association of India. Many Indian states have implemented or pushed for prohibition, which, according to critics, further increases the unsupervised manufacture and sale of alcohol.

Source: Standard Digital February 23, 2019 12:56 UTC