TABANAN

One person is dead and 37 others are ill after drinking arak rice-wine and other alcoholic beverages, with two in critical condition, police said on Monday.

The arak was consumed during festivities in the Tabanan village of Nyambu on the eve of the Hindu holy day of Kuningan, which fell on Saturday, Tabanan Police chief A.A. Made Sudana said.

Many of those who drank the brew were youths, he said.

The revellers had mixed arak – which contains a high level of alcohol – with beer and energy drinks, and a day later complained of illness. Three were taken to Tabanan General Hospital, where one died.

Dozens of other partygoers had been treated at the hospital, said Sudana, adding that police were investigating.

Some two dozen people died in June last year, including foreigners, after drinking methanol-laced arak.