Smuggled and homemade alcohol has become widely available on the black market since it was banned.
At least seven people in Iran have died after drinking bootleg booze, according to state media reports on Monday. This brings the total number of alcohol poisoning deaths to 11 in just two days in a country where such beverages are prohibited.
The latest fatalities occurred in Mazandaran province and included six men and one woman, as reported by the official news agency Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), which cited judicial authorities. Previously, two deaths from alcohol poisoning were reported in the same province.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency noted that 57 people have been hospitalised for “ethanol or methanol” poisoning since Sunday in Mazandaran, although IRNA later revised that figure to 53.
On Sunday, four individuals died from alcohol poisoning in neighbouring Gilan province after 20 others were hospitalised due to consuming bootleg alcohol.
The hidden dangers underground booze scene in Iran
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has banned the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages. As a result, smuggled and homemade alcohol has become widely available on the black market, often with methanol added as a cheaper substitute for ethanol.
In September of last year, Iran sentenced four people to death for selling toxic alcohol that resulted in the deaths of at least 17 people months earlier.
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