12 dead, 6 in critical condition after drinking bootleg liquor 'rakı' in Istanbul, Turkey

12 people in Istanbul died over the past three days after drinking bootleg rakı, Turkey's popular aniseed-flavored alcoholic drink, the homicide department officials reportedly said on Thursday. Six others are still in critical condition, according to media outlets.

The Health Ministry had earlier announced that six people had died and nine others were in critical condition, adding that 49 people have been admitted to hospitals for alcohol poisoning since Oct. 18.

Twenty-three people were being treated in hospitals in Istanbul, Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu told reporters on Thursday.

The victims were mostly from Fatih, a district on Istanbul's European side, media agencies reported.

Police raided several locations where bootleg liquor is produced in the city, namely the districts of Küçükçekmece, Esenler, Bağcılar and Gaziosmanpaşa. Fifteen people suspected of producing bootleg liquor were detained in operations over the past couple of days.

Authorities said the bootleg rakı was infused with methyl alcohol, a deadly substance preferred in counterfeit booze as it is cheaper than proper ethyl alcohol.

Müezzinoğlu warned the public to act cautiously when purchasing alcoholic drinks. "They should avoid suspicious products without proper tax labels and sold for unusually cheap prices. Consumers should alert police when they suspect a shop is selling bootleg alcohol," he said.

Methyl alcohol poisoning claimed 22 lives in the country 10 years ago in a string of alcohol poisoning incidents. In 2011, five Russian tourists who drank bootleg liquor at a party in southern Turkey died.

Serkan Okansoy, a survivor of alcohol poisoning in Istanbul, told reporters how he survived the incident. Okansoy said he bought bootleg rakı from a grocery store for TL 5 ($1.70), a far lower figure compared to more than TL 60 for a bottle of regular rakı, and he has been buying rakı from the same place since 2013.

"I started losing vision after drinking it and had trouble breathing. I struggled to call the police because I was losing my sight, but I luckily managed to reach them," he said. Okansoy said sellers told him the rakı was imported from Bulgaria, but he thinks it was actually made in Turkey. He linked his survival to drinking "only two glasses and going to the hospital early."