Homemade liquor kills scores in India

MUMBAI, India – At least 84 people have died after consuming homemade liquor in a poor neighborhood outside Mumbai.

Five people were arrested and eight police officers suspended pending an investigation into how the illicit liquor was allowed to be sold over the counter from a neighborhood shack.

Officials said all the victims had apparently died from methanol poisoning.

Methanol, a simple alcohol that can damage the central nervous system in humans, was reportedly added to a batch of homemade liquor to increase its potency, police said.

Cheap country liquor is commonly available in India, and scores of people routinely die from consuming a toxic brew. Nearly 170 people died in 2011 in a similar case in the eastern state of West Bengal.