The number of people who fell victim to methyl alcohol poisoning in the past two weeks has risen to eight in Mersin, a Mediterranean province. An unidentified man, who had been treated for poisoning since last week, died at a hospital yesterday. Authorities said nine others were still being treated.

A large number of people sought treatment in the past two weeks for alcohol poisoning in the city, and some recovered and were discharged from the hospital.

Four people were arrested last week on suspicion of selling the alcohol to victims. The arrests came after police raided stores selling alcohol and confiscated 17 liters of fake ingredients used for illegal brewing purposes.

Methyl alcohol is a cheaper substitute for ethyl alcohol, an expensive chemical present in the composition of genuine alcoholic drinks, and is usually used by sellers of bootleg, or fake, alcoholic drinks.

Bootleg liquor killed 34 people in one month in 2015, the highest death toll from alcohol in the country in such a short period. Bootleg drinks have claimed about 10,000 lives across the world over the past decade, and more than 100 people fell victim to deadly beverages in Turkey in recent years.