At least six dead in Karaj and Bandar Abbas due to alcohol poisoning

Media in Iran report that six people have died and at least 28 others have been poisoned due to alcohol consumption in Karaj and Bandar Abbas. ISNA news agency quoted the head of the Prophet Muhammad Educational and Research Medical Center in Bandar Abbas, stating that from Wednesday night (September 25) until noon Thursday, 22 people sought treatment for alcohol poisoning at this center. According to Mahdi Hasani-Azad, of these, 'four have died, two of whom passed away before reaching the hospital, and the cause of death can be attributed to delayed hospital visits.' He also reported the serious condition of four other patients and added that due to the increasing number of admissions, 'all doctors, nursing teams, and all colleagues are on standby.' The head of this medical center noted that last week, four people also visited due to alcohol poisoning, two of whom died. The public relations manager of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences also reported an increase in the number of patients in Bandar Abbas hospitals to 29 and stated that the number of victims in Hormozgan province has reached five so far. Fatemeh Noorouziyan indicated that treatment for other poisoned individuals is ongoing, with ages ranging from 17 to 50 years. IRNA news agency also cited an 'informed source' in Alborz province, reporting that the consumption of 'non-standard' alcoholic beverages in the past two days in Karaj has resulted in nine poisonings and one fatality. This news agency quoted this unnamed source as saying, 'It seems that a second wave of incidents related to alcohol consumption has begun in Karaj.' According to this report, the number of alcohol poisoning cases in the first wave, which had visited hospitals in this city until September 17, was '50, of which five died.' This is not the first time that the consumption of non-standard or counterfeit alcohol has led to deaths and poisonings among citizens in Iran. In April of this year, judicial authorities confirmed reports regarding casualties from counterfeit alcohol consumption on Kish Island. Mohammad Abbasi, the prosecutor of Kish, reported the arrest of three individuals in this regard and stated that about 300 liters of homemade alcoholic beverages were discovered and destroyed at three locations on the island. The sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages are considered a 'crime' under the laws of the Islamic Republic, with a punishment of 80 lashes for consumption, which can lead to execution upon a second offense. Therefore, there are no accurate statistics on the exact amount of these beverages consumed, much of which is smuggled into Iran, and various officials have provided contradictory figures on this matter. Roozbeh Kordouni, the director general of the Social Damage Affairs Office of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, previously stated that approximately 60 million liters of alcoholic beverages are consumed annually in Iran. In 2013, over 350 people in various cities in Kerman province, including Rafsanjan, were poisoned due to counterfeit alcohol consumption, resulting in the deaths of seven individuals. A few months ago, Mohammad Reza Qadirzadeh, an official from Iran's forensic medicine, announced that 153 people died in 2016 due to counterfeit alcohol consumption in the country. According to Mr. Qadirzadeh, 'The production of these illegal beverages is done underground in the country.' This forensic official also mentioned the number of deaths from alcohol consumption from 2010 to 2014 as 145, 93, 136, 135, and 81, respectively.