Even more people have died after drinking homemade and toxic liquor in southern India earlier in the week.
The arrack drink started being consumed on Tuesday and within a few hours, 37 people had died. A total of hundreds of people were taken to hospital, several after losing their sight. The death toll has since risen to 53, Indian media report.
A local politician in the area in the state of Tamil Nadu tells The Indian Express that poor workers usually buy the homemade liquor in plastic bags for the equivalent of less than ten kronor, before going to their jobs.
Alcohol is banned in some states in India and regulated in different ways in the others. In Tamil Nadu, there is a state monopoly on alcohol sales, but it is described as significantly more expensive there than on the black market.
