Czech authorities ban liquor after 19 poisoned
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos-
A shop owner removes bottles of hard liquor from a shelf in Prague on Sept 14, 2012. The Czech Health Ministry on Friday indefinitely banned the sale of drinks containing more than 20 per cent alcohol after 19 people died from drinking bootleg spirits containing poisonous methanol, the CTK news agency reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
-
A bartender covers bottles of hard liquor with towels in a bar in Prague on Sept 14, 2012. The Czech Health Ministry on Friday indefinitely banned the sale of drinks containing more than 20 per cent alcohol after 19 people died from drinking bootleg spirits containing poisonous methanol, the CTK news agency reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
-
Using the No Entry sign, an employee closes the liquor department in Makro hypermarket in Ostrava, Czech Republic, late on Friday, Sept 14, 2012. The Czech authorities took an unprecedented emergency measure today and banned the sale of spirits with more than 20 per cent alcohol content as it battles a wave of methanol poisonings that has already killed 19 people. -- PHOTO: AP
-
An employee of a supermarket removes alcohol from the shelves in Brno on Sept 14, 2012 after the government announced a prohibition on alcohol more than 20 per cent proof. The ban, which took place with immediate effect and will remain in place until further notice, was enforced after 18 people were killed after consuming bootleg spirits containing ethanol. -- PHOTO: AFP
-
An employee of a supermarket removes alcohol from the shelves in Brno on Sept 14, 2012 after the government announced a prohibition on alcohol more than 20 per cent proof. The ban, which took place with immediate effect and will remain in place until further notice, was enforced after 18 people were killed after consuming bootleg spirits containing ethanol. -- PHOTO: AFP
-
Workers puts tape to close an aisle with hard liquor in a supermarket in Prague on Sept 14, 2012. The Czech Health Ministry on Friday indefinitely banned the sale of drinks containing more than 20 per cent alcohol after 19 people died from drinking bootleg spirits containing poisonous methanol, the CTK news agency reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A shop owner removes bottles of hard liquor from a shelf in Prague on Sept 14, 2012. The Czech Health Ministry on Friday indefinitely banned the sale of drinks containing more than 20 per cent alcohol after 19 people died from drinking bootleg spirits containing poisonous methanol, the CTK news agency reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
A bartender covers bottles of hard liquor with towels in a bar in Prague on Sept 14, 2012. The Czech Health Ministry on Friday indefinitely banned the sale of drinks containing more than 20 per cent alcohol after 19 people died from drinking bootleg spirits containing poisonous methanol, the CTK news agency reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Using the No Entry sign, an employee closes the liquor department in Makro hypermarket in Ostrava, Czech Republic, late on Friday, Sept 14, 2012. The Czech authorities took an unprecedented emergency measure today and banned the sale of spirits with more than 20 per cent alcohol content as it battles a wave of methanol poisonings that has already killed 19 people. -- PHOTO: AP
An employee of a supermarket removes alcohol from the shelves in Brno on Sept 14, 2012 after the government announced a prohibition on alcohol more than 20 per cent proof. The ban, which took place with immediate effect and will remain in place until further notice, was enforced after 18 people were killed after consuming bootleg spirits containing ethanol. -- PHOTO: AFP
An employee of a supermarket removes alcohol from the shelves in Brno on Sept 14, 2012 after the government announced a prohibition on alcohol more than 20 per cent proof. The ban, which took place with immediate effect and will remain in place until further notice, was enforced after 18 people were killed after consuming bootleg spirits containing ethanol. -- PHOTO: AFP
Workers puts tape to close an aisle with hard liquor in a supermarket in Prague on Sept 14, 2012. The Czech Health Ministry on Friday indefinitely banned the sale of drinks containing more than 20 per cent alcohol after 19 people died from drinking bootleg spirits containing poisonous methanol, the CTK news agency reported. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
PRAGUE (AFP) - The Czech health minister has placed a total ban on the sale of liquor with over 20 per cent alcohol, following 19 deaths attributed to methanol poisoning from bootleg spirits.
Friday's measure tightens up a ban on spirits with over 30 per cent alcohol being sold by street vendors and market stalls, which was introduced on Wednesday.
"We have to toughen up this measure," health minister Leos Heger said on public television on Friday, Most of the deaths, in the country's worst wave of alcohol poisonings in three decades, were due to drinks bought in shops and restaurants, he said.
The first case of methanol poisoning in the capital Prague had also been discovered, he added.
