Five dead after drinking tainted wine

Five villagers died and 110 others were hospitalised in Central Cambodia’s Kampong Chhnang province after drinking locally made rice wine suspected of containing high levels of methanol, the Health Ministry’s spokeswoman Or Vandine said.

The incident happened in a rural village in Teuk Pos on Saturday when the victims drank the tainted wine during the funeral of a villager who had died after drinking pond water contaminated with pesticide residue, she said on Sunday.