12 Dead After Drinking Tainted Liquor

At least 12 people have died from drinking tainted liquor in a village in eastern India, a government official said Thursday, the AP reports. District Magistrate Sumit Gupta said another 25 people were being treated in a hospital in the Nadia district of West Bengal state. Gupta said the deaths occurred over the past two days after workers at a brick kiln consumed the cheap liquor bought from local sellers. The Press Trust of India news agency said four people have been arrested. Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India because the poor cannot afford licensed brands. Illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase potency. (More India stories.)