Eight die in Iran after drinking home-made alcohol

The deaths bring the total number of people poisoned in the city to 59

The Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, where eight people have died after drinking home-made alcohol. AFP

At least eight people have died in Iran's port city of Bandar Abbas after drinking home-made alcohol, said state news agency IRNA.

The deaths in the provincial capital in the south of the country bring the total number of people poisoned in the city to 59, said medical faculty spokeswoman Fatemeh Norouzian, from Hormozgan province.

"Eight people have died after drinking adulterated home-made alcohol in Bandar Abbas," said Ms Norouzian.

Drinking and selling alcohol is mostly illegal in Iran, where the media frequently reports deaths due to bootlegged liquor.

Ms Norouzian said: "30 people are undergoing dialysis and 17 others are in critical condition in intensive care."

City police on Monday announced the arrest of eight people accused of illegally distributing alcohol.

"During a search of the suspects' homes, police discovered 1,278 litres of alcohol," Bandar Abbas police chief Teymour Dolatyari said, quoted by the Mehr news agency, AFP reported.

In March 2020, at the start of the coronavirus outbreak, more than 44 people died of alcohol poisoning in Iran as a result of a rumour that drinking it would help kill the virus.

“It is rumoured that alcohol can wash and sanitise the digestive system," said Dr Javad Amini Saman at the time from Iran's western city of Kermanshah, where dozens have been admitted to hospital. "That is very wrong.”