Thirteen people died and over 70 were hospitalised after consuming illicit liquor in villages around suburban Ponneri in Tamil Nadu's Tiruvallur district, police sources said.
The condition of some of those under treatment in the Government General Hospital in Chennai was stated to be serious. Several of them complained of blurred vision.
While four persons died soon after consuming the liquor on Thursday night, nine more fell prey to the killer brew in the nine affected villages in the district.
Health Minister Thalavai Sundaram and the Director of Medical Education Dr Vijayalakshmi visited the hospital around noon. Dr Vijayalakshmi told newspersons that the necessary 'anti-dote' was being administered to those under treatment.
A woman, who allegedly sold the brew, has been taken into custody while police is searching for her husband, the sources added.