Spiked Wine Causes 25 Deaths

by Susan Davis on 04/06/09 at 11:41 am

Watch What You Drink on Vacation

As many as 25 people may have died on the Indonesian island of Bali after consuming a type of homemade wine known as arak, that was laced with poisonous methanol.  Another two dozen individuals were taken seriously ill and transported to a local hospital.  Arak, a colorless, sugarless drink, is made from fermented coconut or distilled from palm sap or rice and is a common component in religious ceremonies.  Methanol is a toxic chemical used in anti-freeze, as a cleaning solvent or a component in paint.  Symptoms of methanol poisoning include blood clots in the brain, lesions on the mucous membranes and swelling of internal organs.

According to Reuters, Bali law enforcement authorities are investigating the incident, which left one American woman dead.  They confirmed that many of the individuals who perished were tourists. 

Police arrested the owner and an employee of a small rice wine factory in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, after finding casks of arak that contained traces of methanol. They are still trying to determine if the methanol was added by accident or deliberately.

Alcohol is heavily taxed in Indonesia, and the high prices have spawned a huge black market for imported wine and liquor as well as an explosion of homemade brews, which are much cheaper. Arak can have a high alcohol content of up to 50 percent, making it a drink of choice for tourists who use it to mix cocktails to get what is referred to as an “arak attack.”