TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Ten people died after drinking homemade liquor made from methanol at a party, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday, as the number of such deaths in the Islamic Republic mounts.
Dozens of people were reportedly hospitalized last week after drinking the poisoned alcohol at a party in Alborz province, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital Tehran, IRNA news agency reported.
In addition to the fatalities, more than 140 partygoers have also fallen ill, including four who are in critical condition, officials said.
Since 1979, when Iran banned the manufacture and consumption of alcoholic beverages, methanol has been commonly added to home-brewed beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, the alcohol that can be consumed. Drinking alcohol is punishable by a fine and flogging.
The 40 Iranian alcohol factories switched their production to pharmaceuticals and disinfectants.
Abbas Masjedi, head of the country’s forensic medicine agency, said 644 people died from drinking contaminated alcohol in 2022, 30% more than in 2021, quoted by IRNA.
Consumption of methanol causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness, and even coma.
From time to time, Iran reports similar incidents involving the consumption of alcohol, which is usually provided by bootleggers. A scientific study found that between September and October 2018 alone in Iran, 768 people contracted methanol poisoning and 76 died.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Iranian media reported that hundreds of people had been killed and sickened by ingesting methanol as fake cures claiming that drinking hard alcohol was a possibility circulated on social media to kill the virus.