68 dead, 245 hospitalized after drinking Kenyan home brew

Relatives of patients who fell ill after drinking illegal homemade alcohol wait in an emergency ward at a Nairobi hospital on Thursday

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Home-brewed alcohol mixed with methanol has killed 68 people in Kenya's slums and sent another 245 to hospitals, police said Thursday.

Footage on television news programs Wednesday showed the bodies of some of the men who died after drinking the brew lying unattended on the streets of Sinai and Mukuru, two of Nairobi's many sprawling, desolate slums.

"It is very serious, and more unconscious people are being picked up," police spokesman Peter Kimanthi said. He said 62 deaths occurred in Nairobi, and six others in Kiambu district, about 20 miles north of the Kenyan capital.

Kimanthi said 12 women have been arrested for selling the banned brew and would be charged with distributing a dangerous substance.

Home brew is popular among Kenyans because it is cheap and extremely strong. Traditionally, the ingredients range from fermented corn and sorghum meal to juice from coconut and sugarcane.

In recent years, however, and mostly in urban areas, high-octane fuel and mentholated spirit are added to enhance potency.

A glass of home brew can cost 12 cents compared to a bottle of beer, which costs at least 40 cents.

Kenya is going through its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1963, and poverty is widespread. More than half its 29 million people live on less than a dollar a day.

Police sporadically raid illegal brew dens, but there is no concerted national effort to discourage people from consuming the many types available.

Groups of married women have taken to attacking places where home brew is sold, complaining their husbands and sons spend all their time and money there.

This is the third time in four years that dozens of people have died after consuming home brew. In 1996, 24 people died and six became blind after drinking illicit brew. Two years later another 100 met the same fate, and the government outlawed the drink.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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