Hooch tragedy claims 29

It was not clearly known whether the victims from Pattazhi had consumed the hooch brought from nearby Pallickal. All the three died after reaching the medical college hospital at Thiruvananthapuram.

Sources at the medical college said the flow of victims to the special ward had abated and 206 persons were still in the hospital undergoing treatment for liquor poisoning.

The Kollam hooch tragedy was the third worst in the series of liquor deaths reported in Kerala since 1981. The worst was on September 3, 1982 at Vypeen in Ernakulam in which 78 people died followed by the Punalur liquor tragedy in 1981 which claimed 34 lives.

Meanwhile, the government on Monday suspended ten excise officials including an assistant commissioner on the basis of the preliminary inquiry report on the hooch tragedy submitted by the official inquiry committee constituted on Sundau.