Colombia Moonshine Disaster: Homemade alcohol leaves 11 dead, 10 hospitalised

Eleven people have died and 10 others are in a critical condition after consuming drinks from a dangerous batch of homemade liquor in the Colombian city of Barranquilla, officials reported Thursday.

Most of the dead were unhoused street dwellers who consume “cochoco,” a cocktail of ethyl alcohol, methanol, and other substances that is sold in reused plastic bottles for about 50 cents.

Ever Carabello, the nephew of one of the deceased, told AFP his uncle consumed it “every day,” adding “honestly, we never thought this would happen to him.”

The drink’s maker is among those who died, and police say the liquor was produced in “deplorable,” unsanitary conditions.

In Colombia, cheap homemade liquor is commonly consumed by those living in extreme poverty.

AFP