40 Hospitalized, 4 Dead From Alcohol Poisoning In Tunisia

In southern Tunisia, contaminated alcohol has resulted in 40 hospital admissions and four fatalities, according to an official.

An inquiry has been opened and the person who supplied the alcohol has been arrested, Fethi Baccouche, a spokesman for the Medenine court, told AFP.

An analysis of the alcohol is underway to determine what was behind the mass poisoning.

Of the 40 surviving victims, most left hospital but some were transferred to the capital Tunis for treatment, Baccouche said, without providing exact numbers.

Poisonings from incorrectly produced or adulterated alcohol are common in Tunisia and often fatal.

In 2021, Tunisian health authorities announced five deaths and the hospitalisation of 25 more in Kasserine in the country’s west after they drank contaminated alcohol.

And in May 2020, 39 people were poisoned, including six who died, after drinking methanol near the city of Kairouan.

In certain working-class neighborhoods of Tunis and in outlying areas of the nation with high rates of poverty, homemade alcohol is frequently consumed.

The illegal alcohol is frequently far less expensive than what is sold in stores.

AFP