UPDATED: Tests conducted on some bottles of suspicious liquor reportedly drunk by two men in Hedmark County this week have revealed no signs of the dangerous methanol police thought they may have contained. Police still aren’t ruling out that a bad batch of liquor caused the men to become fatally ill.
One of the men, a 58-year-old resident of Eidskog, died at Kongsvinger Hospital on Tuesday. The other man, also in his 50s, remained in critical condition Wednesday morning but later died as well. Both men have a history of severe alcoholism.
Police immediately suspected they’d ingested dangerous, possibly homemade liquor known as hjemmebrent (moonshine) in Norway. They seized suspicious bottles in the apartment where the men were living, and had them tested.
Preliminary results of an autopsy were pending but police continued to warn of possible methanol on the market, and that it was “important” not to drink any spirits of unclear origin.
newsinenglish.no staff
