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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Fahey

Toxic porridge kills family of 13 after getting mixed with homemade beer

Thirteen members of the same family have died in Namibia after being poisoned with toxic porridge, with the youngest victim aged just two-years-old.

Authorities believe the staple breakfast dish was tainted after it was mixed with sediment left over from homemade beer, according to state broadcaster, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation.

NBC added that another four people are in hospital in critical condition.

Quoting the Namibian health ministry, NBC reported that the "poisonous or toxic" porridge was ingested by at least 20 people.

It had been mixed with a fermented substance left over from a homemade alcoholic drink.

The victims ranged in age from two to 33, NBC said.

The family lived in Kavango, Namibia (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The incident happened in the Kavango East region in the far north-east of the country.

Earlier this year, a shocking "mass poisoning" incident happened in Gujarat, when at least 28 people were killed after ingesting fatal levels of methanol.

In the Ahmedabad and Botad districts of Guajarat in India, methyl alcohol was used to make booze that was extremely strong according to police.

A permit is needed for the consumption of alcohol in Gujarat and it cannot be bought or sold in the state. Reports say that victims, mostly agriculture and sanitary workers, did not seek help for fear of arrest after the consumption of alcohol.

Bhavnagar Ashok Yadav, inspector general of police, told The Times of India: "There was 98% methanol in the liquor they consumed, that means they had consumed methanol only which has increased the death toll."

Police also said they had arrested "several" people involved for alleged sale of "spurious liquor." Narol's Jayesh Khavadiya was arrested along with eight other people.

They were also forced to form 100 teams of people to go to surrounding villages and makes sure anyone who had ingested the alcohol was admitted to hospital for treatment.

The state has experienced frequent problems with booze and this is not the first time it has experienced several deaths from the sale of black-market alcohol.

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