Hooch tragedy: Toll mounts to 10

Ichapuram, Andhra Pradesh, Mar 20 (UNI) The toll in yesterday's hooch tragedy in Rattakanna village of this town in Srikakulam district mounted to ten today with the death of three more persons at Berhampur hospital early this morning.

The incident occurred yesterday when a group of people, mainly daily wage workers in the nearby quarries, went to the funeral of a man who had died after consuming spurious liquor.

While returning after burying the dead, about 25 of them were offered the killer brew as per 'tradition.' While six men died in the village, one breathed his last on way to Berhampur in Orissa which is just 16 km from here.

Three others died in the early hours today. Six of them who took ill were taken to King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam city.

Four others were still battling for their lives in Berhampur and another was being treated at a private hospital in Ichapuram.

Confirming the ten deaths, Srikakulam Superintendent of Police A S Gurappa told UNI it was not known where the hooch had came from.

''We seized some tumblers and other small things but could not find any spurious liquor following a search of some houses in the village.

''We have collected samples of urine and the substance the affected vomited and it will be sent for lab tests. Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, who belongs to the district, would be reaching Ichapuram this evening,'' he added.

The village wore a deserted look as many people, fearing police action, had left the place. Those admitted to hospitals had their family members attending to them.

Meanwhile, KGH superintendent M Ganeshwara Rao said in Visakhapatnam that of the six admitted, one was in critical state, while the condition of five others was stable.

According to officials in State Excise Department, cheap locally brewed liquor, banned in Andhra Pradesh, flowed freely from the southern districts of Orissa into this part of the state.

Rattakanna and the neighbouring Balakrishnapura village were notorious for manufacture of crude bombs.

There had been bitter inter-village rivalry between the two villages and clashes between the villagers had been common which had claimed some lives, official sources said.

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