At least 54 people have died in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu after drinking illegal alcohol laced with methanol.
Nearly 200 people have been treated since last Wednesday and "dozens are still hospitalised" with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhoea, said Al Jazeera.
Selling and consuming alcohol is banned in several parts of India, which leaves space for a black market of bootlegged liquor, but "few can afford branded spirits".
More than a dozen people died last year in a similar incident in a nearby district. Other Indian states, including Assam, Punjab and Bihar, have also reported "hundreds of deaths from bootleg alcohol", said Chennai-based journalist Anupama Chandrasekaran for NPR.Â
"Hundreds of people die in India every year from cheap alcohol, which is made in illicit backstreet distilleries," said Metro. Vendors often add the toxic chemical methanol to bootlegged liquor to increase its potency, but even a small amount can lead to blindness, liver damage and even death.
Last Wednesday Ponnusamy Rajendran, a 55-year-old labourer, bought "three 50 cent plastic pouches of bootleg alcohol to feed his addiction", said NPR. Rajendran died in a government hospital on Thursday. Scores of others have also been admitted to hospital.
But despite evidence of a "mass poisoning" a district official (who has since been transferred) initially denied that the deaths were due to illegal alcohol.
Rajendran's daughter said the family had "battled with the bootleggers to halt the sale of this substance", only to be told: "Why do you allow him to come and purchase from us?"
"This is a major crisis and it must never occur again," she said. | 
