According to The Post, four people died and 12 others suffered headaches, dizziness and nausea in a recent case of suspected alcohol poisoning in Banteay County, Cambodia.
Image from: Internet
Local officials told reporters that the alcohol involved was a herbal rice wine called Tang Kuoy, brought by several construction workers to drink with others, but it was not expected to be toxic.
Four people died and 12 others are being treated by doctors at a local hospital because they were too toxic.
Four of the patients were young, including two patients in their 20s and two patients in their 30s.
The local health director said he suspected that the rice wine consumed by the men contained excessive alcohol, but this was not confirmed. Currently, doctors have not confirmed that the poison in the patients" bodies came from rice wine.
However, according to the patients, the symptoms were caused by food poisoning, with this herbal rice wine being suspected as the main cause, as all 16 patients who developed symptoms drank it.
The remaining wine and patient blood samples have been sent to the Ministry of Health's laboratory in Phnom Penh.
Meanwhile, the authorities are conducting an investigation and have removed the Tang Kuoy brand from all markets in the province, saying that trafficking and sales of all types of cold rice wine will be temporarily banned to prevent the spread of the poison to other regions and provinces in the country.
The rice wine is sold mainly in areas with construction workers and garment factory workers," said the officer. In fact, the deadly crisis caused by cheap alcoholic beverages has recurred in Cambodia's poor rural areas.
Several cases of poisoning from fake alcohol are reported each year. These toxic spirits are usually home brewed, improperly distilled, and contain methanol, a small amount of which can be fatal.
However, police said the toxic rice wine in the case was produced in the capital Phnom Penh. The brand has been sold in the local market for many years without incident. It was revealed that the owner of the company is being questioned.
