In the Malvani hooch tragedy, 102 people have died so far and 40 are admitted in Nair, KEM, Sion, and Shatabdi hospitals. Two are in ICU. The city crime branch is investigating the incident.
Even as the entire state is contemplating ways and means to prevent hooch tragedy-like incidents, the best solution perhaps is coming from some of the survivors themselves. Three men, who consumed hooch on that fateful day and are now being discharged from Nair hospital, have said that they would create awareness to curb consumption of the spurious liquor.
In the Malvani hooch tragedy, 102 people have died so far and 40 are admitted in Nair, KEM, Sion, and Shatabdi hospitals. Two are in ICU. The city crime branch is investigating the incident.
On Thursday, dna spoke to the youngsters after they were discharged. The trio has been living in Malvani, Malad, since long.
"Seeing is believing... we can convince people easily citing our own example, what happened to us on consuming hooch," said Jitendra Baitha (39), who works in a laundry in Malvani. The father of four is happy to finally get discharge after spending seven days in the hospital and relieved that he is alive to celebrate his youngest son's birthday.
"I will never touch hooch again; I consider this my second life, having been treated successfully. I had been drinking hooch for the last 10 years but never had a bad experience. This time, I had felt there was something different in the taste but I didn't think about it much and drank two quarters. This was a serious incident and the police have taken the right action in banning hooch. But we too have decided to stay away from it and create awareness among others to do the same," he added.
Another patient, Sathyleo Shetty (23), said, "I never used to drink hooch but, this time, I don't know why I went with my friend and had one quarter. I am thankful to god for giving me a second life. I will utilise it by creating awareness against spurious liquor. In fact, if someone drinks any kind of liquor, I will try to convince him/her not to, as any kind of alcohol is not good for health."
The third patient, Ramchandra Harijan who was also discharged on Thursday, said, "The government should ban all kinds of country liquor. We used to drink hooch, but after this tragedy, the government should take serious action against it. A lot of people died in this tragedy... We will raise our voice against country liquor."
Scientists have ascertained that the victims were fed poisonous methyl alcohol or methanol. The toxicology department of Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory in Santa Cruz submitted 15 reports to the police on Tuesday, all of which confirmed fatal levels of methanol in the viscera, blood and urine of the victims.
Docspeak
There were 25 people admitted in our hospital, 10 have died, two are in ICU and 13 are fit for discharge. The people who died got admitted late and had consumed a lot of hooch. The three patients we discharged today were brought here in a bad condition — headache, chest pain, blurry vision and vomitting—Rosemarie Desouza, professor, Medical Intensive Care Unit, Nair hospital
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