Spiked liquor kills more foreigners

Luh De Suriyani and Panca Nugraha , The Jakarta Post , Denpasar, Mataram | Tue, 06/02/2009 2:06 PM | The Archipelago

Three foreign tourists are believed to have died after drinking home-distilled traditional arak liquor in West Nusa Tenggara and Bali over the weekend.

The latest case in the recent rash of alcohol poisoning claimed its second foreign victim Monday, when a 48-year-old American woman was pronounced dead at Sanglah Central Hospital’s ICU.

The victim was identified as Rose Johnson, who lived on Jl. Hang Tuah 41 in the quiet tourist village of Sanur.

She was taken to the hospital Sunday night, and pronounced dead a few hours later, at 1.30 a.m. on Monday.

“The patient was unconscious when she was admitted here, and displayed signs of alcohol poisoning,” said I.B. Putu Alit, head of Sanglah’s forensic unit.

The slew of poisonings claimed its first foreign victim Saturday, British national Alan Cole.

An autopsy of Cole’s body showed he died from alcohol poisoning.

“The autopsy was requested by North Kuta Police,” Alit said.

“The body showed no signs of violence and displayed several signs typical of alcohol poisoning.”

The forensic medicine unit has so far examined 51 victims of alcohol poisoning.

Tests conducted by the unit have confirmed all victims suffered from moderate to severe levels of alcohol poisoning.

“As many as 21 victims have died, including two foreign nationals,” said Ken Wirasandi, head of Sanglah’s medical services unit.

Local police have confirmed the poisoning was caused by the consumption of traditional arak liquor spiked with methanol, used locally in rural areas as fuel for pump lanterns.

The drink is spiked to boost its potency.

Over on Lombok Island, Dutch national Rene Puper, 23, died Sunday evening in the intensive care unit of Mataram General Hospital, after being admitted to the hospital earlier in the day.

His partner, Rachel Craig, 22, a British citizen, died a day earlier on Gili Trawangan, a small resort island in North Lombok.

Puper’s body was examined at Mataram General Hospital on Monday, while Craig’s body is still being kept at the Bhayangkara Kemala Hikmah Police Hospital, also in Mataram.

Gili Trawangan village chief Zainuddin M.Z. told reporters at the hospital that Puper and Craig had arrived at the resort island on Saturday afternoon and later checked in at the Emelia Guesthouse.

“Two hours after checking in, Puper stormed out of the room seeking help because his partner Craig was in agony,” Zainuddin said.

He added the two foreign nationals had reportedly been seen drinking arak on the nearby island of Gili Meno, shortly before crossing over to Gili Trawangan.

“Witnesses noticed them drinking arak in Gili Meno before arriving in Trawangan,” he said.

“Many people saw them in an intoxicated state as they arrived in Trawangan.”

Mataram General Hospital spokesman Rudi Syarif said based on clinical symptoms during treatment at the ICU, Puper was believed to have died of alcohol poisoning.

Tourist warned not to drink local Bali spirit arak.
Tourists to the Indonesian island of Bali were warned against drinking the local spirit arak, after at least 25 people died in the past week when a batch was cut with methanol.

JAKARTA (Reuters Life!) – Tourists to the Indonesian island of Bali were warned against drinking the local spirit arak, after at least 25 people died in the past week when a batch was cut with methanol.

Bali’s police said 25 people, including a British national, an Irish woman, a Dutch man and a American woman, died of alcohol poisoning after drinking arak containing methanol — a toxic chemical compound often used as an anti-freeze or in paint.

Another 21 local residents have been treated at Bali’s main hospital of Sanglah, police said.

Police have arrested the owner and an employee of a small rice wine factory in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, after finding evidence of arak that contained traces of methanol. They are investigating if this was accidental or deliberate.

This contaminated batch of arak was distributed to shops and roadside stalls in four different districts of Bali, police said.
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Gde Sugianyar, Bali police spokesman advised Balinese and tourists to avoid unlabelled drinks as a precaution.

“We have been watching and conducting raids across Bali especially arak sellers who sell their liquor from jerry cans. We asked Balinese to stop buying unlabelled arak until we find what exactly caused the deaths,” Sugianyar told Reuters.

Arak, a colorless, sugarless drink, is distilled from palm sap or rice and commonly used in religious ceremonies in Bali.

It is also much cheaper than imported alcohol, which is heavily taxed. Arak has a high alcohol content of 20 to 50 percent, making it the drink of choice for some tourists who use it for cocktails to get a so-called “arak attack.”

“Tourists do not need to worry as long as they drink labeled alcohol,” Sugianyar said.

Police are investigating whether the contaminated Balinese arak was distributed to neighboring islands in West Nusa Tenggara, causing the death of two foreign tourists there, Sugianyar said.

Police said Dutch national Rene Puper, 23, died on Sunday in a Lombok hospital after his Irish girlfriend, Rachel Maria Craig, 25, died on the resort island of Gili Trawangan a day earlier.

I checked out Dili on Wikipedia and it looks pretty cool. I like how the mountains or hills just rise up from the sea. Have you been to Dili before? How safe is it and what do you plan on doing if anything?

Be Well,

David

How did you handle the rat?