In Morocco, at least eight people have died and around a hundred others are currently hospitalized, some in serious condition. The cause is the consumption of adulterated alcohol. The events took place in a town called Sidi Allal Tazi, near Kenitra, about a hundred kilometers north of the capital Rabat.
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With our correspondent in Rabat, Victor Mauriat
This is the second drama of this kind in just one week in Morocco. On May 30, the authorities in Meknes announced the arrest of two men, suspected of having manufactured and soldadulterated alcohol, causing the death of seven people. This time, the Moroccan Ministry of Health speaks of eight deaths. A toll which could nevertheless increase. Dozens of people are still under increased medical surveillance in several hospitals in the region.
Alcohol mixed with methanol
The origin of the tragedy, according to local media H24, would be a mixture between classic alcohol and methanol, a chemical alcohol obtained using natural gas or coal and extremely dangerous for health. Alcohol is supposed to be prohibited by the Muslim religion, the majority in Morocco. Many licensed grocery stores, bars or nightclubs, however, have the right to sell them indiscriminately to Moroccans or foreigners throughout the country. But in order to obtain alcohol at a low price, it is not uncommon to see adulterated, or sometimes expired, alcohol circulating, sold at more than affordable prices. Dangerous products which will have caused at least fifteen deaths at the beginning of June.