Methanol-laced rice wine, tainted water blamed for 14 deaths in Kratie province

Government officials yesterday confirmed that 14 villagers have died in Kratie province’s Chetr Borei district since last week, from what appears to be a combination of factors including tainted water and methanol-laced rice wine. The death toll of villagers who have died from the contaminated water or rice wine rose from 11 to 14 yesterday, while more than 200 people have been hospitalised, officials said.

Or Vandin, spokesman for the Health Ministry, said yesterday that the incident in Chetr Borei district’s Kantuot commune occurred because the villagers had consumed rice wine with a high methanol content. “The poisoning in Kratie province occurred because our people bought rice wine that wasn’t produced according to standards. When we knew this, the Minister of Health ordered health officials to go down to the villages and investigate,” she said.

Ms Vandin said that they took samples of both the rice wine and the water the villagers used to test at a laboratory. “Today, we got the result from the sample of rice wine, which had a lot of methanol and caused the drinkers to get poisoned,” she said, adding that the contaminated rice wine was to blame for all of the deaths and serious illnesses.

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