Police in Southern Norway have charged a senior citizen with selling illegal alcoholic beverages at a private gathering in Mandal last week. Several of those drinking the alcohol fell ill and had to be hospitalized, but doctors now say methanol poisoning has been ruled out.
“The people at the party along with the person charged were all seniors,” Bernt Mushom of the Vestre Agder Police told state broadcaster NRK on Tuesday. Police also seized illegal beverages at the scene.
Even though the local chief medical officer suspected methanol had been mixed into the home brew, doctors at Oslo University Hospital who tested the drinks said there was no sign of methanol or other poisonous alcohol in them. It remained unclear what made those drinking it ill.
Police issued new warnings against drinking any substances of uknown origin. Medical officials defended their decison to warn of methanol poisoning as part of their effort to prevent illness among others.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
