11 dead, 9 ill after consuming methyl alcohol

Faizabad/Lucknow, July 3 (UNI) At least 11 villagers today died and nine others took ill after consuming methyl alcohol in Ronauhi area of Faizabad.

Talking to newspersons at Lucknow this evening, state home secretary R M Srivastava said a tanker containing methyl alcohol overturned in Ronauhi near the Barabanki-Faizabad border on Saturday.

The residents of three neighbouring villags mistook the leaking spirit for liquor. They collected the methyl alcohol in large quantities and consumed it.

Later, 11 villagers -- eight people including two women from Faizabad and three people from Barabanki districts -- died.

Me Srivastava claimed local residents had been warned that the liquid was poison, but the victims belonging to Begumganj, Barai and Chamaran-ka-purwa villages did not heed the advice.

The Home Secretary informed that Faizabad district magistrate and senior superintendent of police had already visited the site.

Meanwhile, the others were undergoing treatment in different hospitals.

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