Death of 13 people and dozens injured after consuming contaminated alcohol in Kuwait

In a horrific incident that shook public opinion in Kuwait, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced a health disaster that claimed the lives of dozens of expatriate workers due to consuming adulterated alcohol containing the toxic substance methanol, resulting in the death of 13 people and the injury of 21 others with blindness or permanent vision damage.

According to an official statement issued by the ministry on the "X" platform (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday evening, medical teams dealt with 63 cases of acute alcohol poisoning since last Saturday.

51 of these cases required urgent dialysis, while 31 people needed respiratory support through ventilators, indicating the severity of the poisoning and the seriousness of the complications.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that all the injured are expatriate workers of Asian nationalities, without disclosing further details about the locations of the injuries or the ages of the victims.

For its part, the Indian Embassy in Kuwait—where Indian citizens form the largest expatriate community—indicated that about 40 Indians were transferred to the hospital in recent days, but did not specify the nature of the cases or the reasons for the poisoning, only confirming that they are monitoring their conditions with the Kuwaiti authorities.

In explaining the reasons for the disaster, Dr. Nadia Al-Kandari, former head of the tissue examination department at the forensic medicine administration, confirmed that alcohol is illegally manufactured locally among some members of the Asian communities, using dangerous ingredients and incorrect chemical proportions, in places lacking the most basic hygiene and oversight conditions. She stated: "This type of alcohol becomes lethal as soon as it is manufactured in this way."

Dr. Nadia Al-Hamdan, a sociology professor at Kuwait University, described the number of deaths as "huge and shocking," emphasizing the need for the Ministry of Interior to urgently act to identify the locations of illegal manufacturing and hold accountable those behind this disaster.

It is noted that Kuwaiti law completely prohibits the entry, manufacture, or sale of alcoholic beverages within the country.

However, attempts to locally produce alcohol in secret places occur from time to time, without any health oversight, leading to similar tragic poisoning incidents, often costing the lives of expatriate workers seeking cheap alternatives.

The incident has sparked public outrage and calls for tightening oversight and intensifying awareness campaigns within expatriate worker communities, especially in light of the increasing attempts to randomly manufacture alcohol, which is often produced using primitive means and lethal substances like methanol, which can cause blindness or death when consumed.

Investigations are still ongoing to determine the source of this contaminated alcohol and those responsible for its production and distribution.