At least 19 people have died in the last 24 hours alone in Istanbul due to the consumption of fake alcohol, according to the latest casualty count, while a further 33 people are still being treated for intoxication and could suffer irreversible damage, including blindness.
Turkish media confirmed the latest death toll in the last few hours, after reports late yesterday that the death toll had risen to 11 dead and 43 people hospitalised for poisoning with adulterated alcohol mixed with methanol, a toxic substance that enhances the effects of ethyl alcohol and lowers its cost but is extremely toxic to health, causing internal damage to organs such as the liver and even blindness.
Istanbul governor Davut Gül reported that at least 63 businesses selling adulterated alcohol have been shut down and their licences withdrawn. ‘Anyone who causes deaths by selling adulterated or smuggled alcohol is being identified and brought to justice. Please take note: the death toll is rising,’ the governor warned.
Deaths from the sale of illegal alcohol adulterated with methyl alcohol are a recurring problem every year in Turkey, especially between the months of November and January and around New Year celebrations; many Turks resort to buying illegal alcohol – mainly rakı – because the price is considerably lower, but bottles of adulterated alcohol have also occasionally been seized in shops and even tourist establishments, which sell these cheaply obtained drinks to their customers without their knowledge in order to make a higher profit.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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