Police in Quang Ninh Province are investigating three alcohol poisoning cases that caused four fatalities in the past few days.

Three separate alcohol poisoning cases were recorded in Cam Pha and Ha Long Cities from December 2-4.

Two victims died at home and two others died at hospitals. All complained of headaches, nausea, and dizziness after drinking the same alcohol, made from sticky rice with trademark of “Ruou nep 29 Hanoi”, produced by 29 Hanoi Import-Export JSC Company, headquartered at 40 Vu Xuan Thieu in Hanoi’s Long Bien District. The alcohol was produced on December 12.

“Ruou nep 29 Hanoi”

Vu Xuan Dieu, Director of the provincial Health Department’s Food Safety and Hygiene Office, said they tested some samples of the alcohol that the victims drank, along with some samples chosen at random in the market produced between July 12 and August 12.

The results showed that alcohol drunk by the victims had a methanol content 2,000 times above the acceptable levels while other alcohol did not have any.

Immediately after becoming aware of the incidents, a market watchdog group in Quang Ninh Province conducted an inspection and seized 6,000 two-littre bottles of the alcohol, including 4,000 bottles produced on October 12.

On November 5, environmental police in Long Bien District also started a separate investigation into the case and initially took some samples for further testing.

Over the past few years, several localities across the country have reported cases of alcohol poisoning, which have claimed dozens of lives.

A recent investigative report carried out by a journalist found that some stores at Kim Bien Market in HCM City’s District 5 are selling surgical spirits along with flavour and colour additives, and some were very willing to show buyers how to reproduce the products on their own to look real.

Every year, in the lead up to the traditional Tet, watchdog groups across the country find and seize several types of fake alcoholic drinks with forged labels, as if they were foreign brands such as Hennessy, Chivas Regal, Johnnie Walker, and Remy Martin. Most such fake products were made by the aforementioned ingredients.

Medical experts said industrial ethanol that still contains impurities could cause serious health concerns including blindness and death.