At least 84 dead and 200 in hospital after drinking tainted alcohol in India

At least 84 people have died and another 200 are in hospital after drinking tainted alcohol in India.

The victims of one of the country's most deadly bootleg liquor-related incidents were mostly tea plantation workers in the north eastern state of Assam.

The liquor was laced with methyl alcohol, a chemical that attacks the central nervous system.

The victims started falling unconscious on Thursday and were rushed to hospital but 84 died.

Himanta Biswa Sharma, Assam's health minister, said some of the 200 people who remain in hospital are in a critical condition.

The owner of a local brewing unit and eight others have been arrested, police official Mukesh Agarwal said.

Mr Awarwal said police are pursuing other people believed to be connected to the racket as part of an ongoing investigation.

"We shall not spare anyone involved in manufacture and distribution of the tainted liquor," Mr Sharma, the health minister, said.

Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India because the poor cannot afford licensed brands from government-run shops. Illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked to increase potency.

In India's Uttar Pradesh state earlier this month, about 80 people died from tainted bootleg alcohol.

Additional reporting by Press Association