Kenya brew death toll 137, still rising

NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) -- The death toll from a poisonous illegal liquor sold in the Kenyan capital rose to 137 on Sunday, with more deaths predicted among the more than 400 patients -- many of them seriously ill -- now in five Nairobi hospitals.

Kenyan police said they had so far arrested 58 people on charges of preparing, distributing or selling the brew, locally known as chang'aa. Those arrested include a man suspected of manufacturing the poisonous element in the drink.

More than 20 of those still in hospital have lost their sight, medical sources said.

The deadly consignment, believed to contain a high level of methanol, first hit the streets in a Nairobi slum area last Tuesday. The first deaths were quickly followed by more from several other congested slum areas around the city, and new cases are still trickling into the hard-pressed hospitals.

Despite widespread publicity about its dangers, police said many people were still buying and drinking the illicit concoction and further cases of poisoning could be expected.

Nairobi newspapers reported that some policemen were among the dead.

Chang'aa is highly intoxicating and offers one of the few means of escape from the misery of slum living and is popular among Nairobi's poor.

The city's slums, home to at least half of the capital's three million population, are packed with shebeens which compete for business by boasting of the potency of their brew.

Most are run by elderly widows and police say those arrested include 12 women suspected of selling the drink.

There have been sporadic outbreaks of poisoning among chang'aa drinkers in Kenya in recent years, with over 100 dying in Nakuru, 160 km (100 miles) northwest of Nairobi two years ago.

But the latest Nairobi poisonings are the most serious yet recorded, police said.

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