One arrested as alcohol-linked deaths hit 8
Police in Blantyre have arrested a man suspected to be among those trading in a liquor product suspected to have poisonous content that has killed eight people in Manase Township in the city.
South West Police regional spokesperson Joseph Sauka said the suspect, Brain Chirimba, 26, was arrested on Sunday after allegedly going missing soon after the first two deaths of imbibers of the brew were reported on Friday night.
He said the suspect will be charged with an offence of food poisoning.
“As we are speaking now, our officers are still on the ground to investigate more about this alcohol incident and charges may rise based on what will be gathered after the investigations,” said Sauka.
of the victims
He said police are also waiting for post-mortem results from pathologist Dr. Charles Dzamalala to establish the causes of the deaths.
The pathologist yesterday declined to comment on the matter.
But preliminary findings by Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) show that the eight died due to poisoning.
In an interview yesterday, Blantyre DHO spokesperson Chrissy Banda said as of midday yesterday, the death toll had risen from seven on Sunday to eight.
She said the person who died yesterday was among the two patients who were being treated in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre.
QECH deputy director Shaffi Mdala yesterday said since Friday evening, the hospital has received nine patients from around Manase Township, of which three died while receiving treatment.
Sources at the referral hospital indicated that preliminary findings show that the victims consumed methanol.
According to methanol.org, methanol is a chemical building block for hundreds of everyday products, including plastics, paints, car parts and construction materials. It is also a clean energy resource used to fuel cars, trucks, buses, ships, fuel cells, boilers and cook stoves.
Ingestion of methanol may cause a wide range of adverse health effects such as headache, dizziness, agitation, acute mania, amnesia, decreased level of consciousness, including coma and seizure.
