Arak poisoning in Bali

[B727]

I make an exception for kava kava in Fiji.

I feel better about drinking kava than I do arak though.

The latter has always struck me as a tropical version of moonshine

[penegal]

Yeah, I'd stay away from that stuff if I was you...

[HUGE AL]

I make an exception for kava kava in Fiji.

[up and away]

Oh my goodness. Is this for real?

Happens at least once every year: Tourists discover that there's some cheap alcohol to be found that is *tax-free* and they end up blind or dead. I'd always stick to the legal stuff even if it does cost more because I don't intend to kill myself

[milehighj]

I would stick with wine and Bir Bintang.

That's an excellent recommendation. I tried arak once, and for sure even the non-lethal version tasted like methanol...

[UMD]

I would stick with wine and Bir Bintang.

[B727]

Oh my goodness. Is this for real?

[milehighj]

http://www.asiaone.com/Travel/News/S...06-146571.html

Tourists among 25 killed in Bali

TOURISTS on the Indonesian island of Bali were warned against drinking the local spirit arak, after at least 25 people died in the past week when a batch was laced with methanol.

Police spokesman Gede Sugianyar said that among the dead were four foreigners, while 20 others fell ill and were hospitalised after consuming the home-brewed rice liquor.

American Rose Johnson, Briton Alan Colen, Mr Rene Puper from the Netherlands and Ms Rachel Craig from Ireland were among the dead, a government official told The Associated Press.

Speaking separately to The Jakarta Post, the official said Ms Johnson, 48, died on Monday in hospital and that she had shown symptoms typically caused by drinking alcohol mixed with methanol.

He did not list the symptoms.

Mr Colen, 59, died on Saturday at the same hospital after drinking arak he had bought from a stall near his home in Kuta, the English-language newspaper said.

His Indonesian wife found him unconscious at their home in Canggu, North Kuta. He had a seizure and his vision was affected by the time they reached the hospital.

He had lived in Bali for 13 years.

Blood and urine samples from the victims have been sent to the National Police Laboratory in Denpasar to determine the exact cause of their death.

Mr Puper, 23, and 25-year-old Ms Craig died on Sunday on the neighbouring island of Lombok after drinking the lethal brew, local official Zainuddin told AP. The pair were rushed to a hospital in the town of Mataram after they were seen staggering late on Saturday, he said.

So far, three people - the owner and employees of a small rice wine factory - have been arrested in connection with the poisonings.

Methanol added

'(The owner) is suspected of producing and selling alcohol containing methanol... which can cause death. We are investigating whether he did it on purpose,' Mr Sugianyar told AFP.

Alcoholic drinks contain ethanol, but not methanol.

Methanol is a toxic chemical used as fuel, an ingredient in formaldehyde, plastics and paints or as an anti-freeze or solvent.

Alcohol is heavily taxed in Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation, and the high prices have spawned a huge black market for wine and liquor.

As a result, drinking local brews is popular.

Arak is a colourless, sugarless drink distilled from palm sap or rice and commonly used in religious ceremonies in Bali.

It has a high alcohol content of 20 to 50 per cent, making it the drink of choice for some tourists who use it for cocktails to get a so-called 'arak attack', said Reuters.

This article was first published in The New Paper.