16 December,2011 11:05 AM IST | | IANS
More people continued to die in West Bengal after consuming spurious liquor with the toll mounting to 156 Friday morning. Over 100 people are battling for their lives in hospital
"So far 156 people have died," Shikha Adhikari, district chief medical officer, Health, told IANS.
The liquor tragedy victims in Sangrampur in South 24 Parganas district were mostly rickshaw pullers, labourers and hawkers
Last Friday, a huge fire tragedy killed 93 people in a south Kolkata's AMRI hospital.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered a Criminal Investigation Department probe into the liquor deaths in Sangrampur, barely 50 km from capital Kolkata.
The victims had Tuesday night visited some illegal liquor dens near Sangrampur railway station in the village. Sangrampur falls under the Diamond Harbour sub-divisional headquarter.
The victims started throwing up and collapsing soon after they consumed the liqour, that was mixed with a toxic chemical that has not yet been identified.
This is one of the worst liquor tragedies in India. Earlier in 1992, over 200 people had died in Orissa after consuming spurious liquor. In 2009, a similar incident in Gujarat left 136 dead.
