Two more deaths have taken the toll in Bangkok’s moonshine methanol scare to six, as investigators widen their search for those producing and selling the deadly rotgut beyond the city's northern suburbs.
Dr Pairoj Surattanawanich, deputy director-general of the Department of Medical Services, said on Wednesday that two more drinkers had died from the effects of methanol intoxication on Tuesday.
One had died in hospital after earlier being resuscitated, and the other died at home.
He said 22 people who had purchased the moonshine at street liquor stalls remained in hospitals. Most suffered through fatigue, breathing difficulties, impairment of vision, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
Two new patients had been admitted to Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital in Khannayao district suffering from exhaustion and breathing difficulties. They told officials they drank the liquor at other stalls, not at any of the 18 stalls earlier identified and closed after the poisonings made headlines.
Officials were investigating five newly reported liquor stalls in Lat Krabang and Khannayao districts of Bangkok and in Lam Luk Ka district of Pathum Thani.
Pol Maj Gen Kiatikul Sonthinen, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 3, which supervises northern Bangkok, said a 49-year-old woman suspected of supplying the drink to the 18 currently closed stalls had been charged with the illegal production of liquor and recklessness causing death and serious injury.
It was earlier reported that two of the imbibers were now dependant on respirators and 17 needed kidney dialysis.
The closed stalls were in Khannayao, Khlong Sam Wa, Lat Krabang, Min Buri, Nong Chok and Prawet districts.
The police commander said samples of homemade liquor from the 18 stalls contained hazardous levels of methanol and emphasized that consumers should not buy illegal booze, for their own safety.