A total of eight people, including three Indian nationals, have died in Padariya, Bramhapuri Rural Municipality-5 of Sarlahi.
The doctors have suspected that all of them might have consumed toxic liquor made at home. All of the deceased had consumed alcohol in a local liquor shop located two-kilometer north of no man’s land in the Nepal-India border.
The deceased have been identified as Ram Ishwar Paswan, 50, Dinkar Das, 39, Kailu Das, 65, Jugeshwor Majhi, 50, Balindra Das, 24 of Padariya Village and Dataram Nisad, 35, Shivasagar Nisad, 55 and Sarbesh Ram Nisad, 32 of Uttar Pradesh, India.
All three Indian citizens are labourers at Chandan Brick Industry, Padariya while the remaining are the locals of Padariya Village.
Upendra Raut, coordinator at the health department of the Rural Municipality, said, “All three Indian nationals died on June 11, local Ram Ishwar Paswan on June 12, Kailu Das on June 13, and Jugeshwor Majhi and Balindra Das died on Monday morning.”
According to Raut, Ram Ishwar Paswan and Dinkar Das died in Agra, India. “They had gone to India after consuming the alcohol in search of employment,” he said.
The three Padariya locals and Indian nationals breathed their last while receiving treatment at Malangawa District Hospital, Raut added.
He further said that three more locals who had consumed the alcohol had fallen sick. “Two are under treatment at Malangawa Hospital while one is admitted to Shree Ram Hospital,” said Raut. “Devraj Kapar, who owns the local liquor shop, has also fallen sick.”
After eight fatalities were recorded in the village within a span of four days, Dr. Kamalesh Yadav of Health Directorate, Janakpur, Dr. Kiran Bastola from the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Abhinash Kumar Singh of Malangawa District Hospital, and a team from District Health Office and Health Department of the Rural Municipality jointly inspected the village in which the liquor shop is in operation on Monday morning.
“During the inspection, COVID-19 antigen test was conducted over 13 suspects but all of them tested negative,” said coordinator Raut.
Moreover, Dr. Nawal Kishor Jha, medical superintendent at the Malangawa Hospital, said, “Even though we have received information that consumption of toxic liquor was the cause of death, preparations are being made to send the viscera of the deceased to the forensic lab in Kathmandu for further investigation.”
An investigation will be done over the three patients as well, he said.
Binod Kumar Sah, Chairman of Bramhapuri Rural Municipality, informed that all the eight people who died in the last four days and three who are ill had consumed toxic liquor.
“Despite making multiple efforts, we were unable to shut down the local liquor shops,” he said.
Source : THE RISING NEPAL,
