When I Was Young

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Posted: 2-Jun-2009 14:09 hrs

A toddy tapper climbs a palm tree. Twenty five people including four foreigners have died from drinking methanol-laced palm wine on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, police said

Twenty five people including four foreigners have died from drinking methanol-laced palm wine on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, police said.

American Rose Johnson, 48, Briton Alan Cole, 57, and Irish and Dutch citizens whose families requested anonymity were among the people killed over the past two weeks, hospital staff said.

A local man has been arrested for allegedly making the lethal concoction with methanol -- a toxic chemical compound often used as an antifreeze or solvent -- instead of ethanol found in alcoholic drinks, police said.

"He is suspected of producing and selling alcohol containing methanol ... which can cause death. We are investigating whether he did it on purpose," police spokesman Gede Sugianyar said. — AFP

From TODAYOnline.com; see the source article here.