Bootleg liquor claimed four lives in one week in the northwestern Turkish province of Bursa. Authorities announced another victim hospitalized for poisoning died on Wednesday. The latest victim was allegedly one of two people who sold bootleg liquor to the victims. Ten others remain hospitalized while three victims are in critical condition.
On Nov. 13 and the following days, 14 people were hospitalized on suspicion of poisoning from bootleg liquor, in two central neighborhoods of the province. Three died while the latest victim, identified as F.I., was apprehended by police along with another suspect, on charges of selling the deadly drink. Upon testimony of the other suspect, police also detained O.Y., a man accused of shipping bootleg drinks from the western province of Izmir to sellers. Two men were arrested while F.I. was taken to the hospital after it was revealed that he himself drank the bootleg liquor too.
Amid high prices of legitimate alcoholic drinks, drinkers increasingly turn to bootleg alcohol mixed with methanol, which is more toxic and used for industrial purposes, instead of ethanol, which is usually used for human consumption. Despite crackdowns on bootleg alcohol sellers by security forces, the issue remains a dire concern for the country where dozens died from the consumption of bootleg drinks in the past few years.
