"Counterfeit" alcohol poisoning kills dozen in N. Iran: media

Tehran [Iran], June 18:About a dozen were killed and scores others poisoned over the past few days after drinking "counterfeit" alcohol in the northern Iranian province of Alborz, local media reported Saturday.
Over the past two days, 10 people were killed and two suffered brain death in the province because of alcohol poisoning, President of Alborz University of Medical Sciences ShahramSayyadi was quoted by Iranian Students' News Agency as saying on Saturday.
A total of 99 suffering from alcohol poisoning symptoms were referred to medical centers across the province during the same period, he added.
Some other media sources, such as the semi-official Fars news agency, put the death toll at 14.
Meanwhile, Alborz Province's Chief Justice Hossein FazeliHerikandi said close to 100 people have so far been referred to medical centers in the province's capital Karaj with alcohol poisoning symptoms and a number of them have died, Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary reported.
It is likely that some other poisoned people have not been transferred to medical centers and died at home, he added.
So far, three distributors of alcoholic drinks were identified and arrested, through whom a number of the major distributors of industrial-grade alcohol in the province were captured, according to FazeliHerikand.
He said it was found that the industrial alcohol had been "illegally" sold by the owner of a hairspray production factory in Eshtehard County in Alborz.
Source: Xinhua