One dead, 10 hospitalized from bootleg alcohol

TEKİRDAĞ-Demirören News Agency

One person has died and 10 others have been hospitalized after consuming bootleg alcohol in the Çorlu district of the northwestern province of Tekirdağ.

Some 11 people from different neighborhoods of the district fell sick and went to the hospital overnight.

It emerged that those people consumed bootleg rakı. Four of those admitted to the hospital were intubated.

A 26-year-old Pakistani national lost his life, while the treatment of other individuals is ongoing.

Police launched an operation in the district and confiscated 25 liters of bootleg rakı at a shop.

The owner of the business, who fled the police raid, later turned himself in to authorities.

Turkey cracked down on bootleg liquor production after at least 92 people in 14 provinces died of alcohol poisoning within 70 days last year.

Bootleg alcohol is made using low-cost methyl alcohol instead of ethyl alcohol.

Consumption of illegally distilled liquor can cause permanent blindness, metabolic disturbances and death.