Click to play videoDiamond Harbour: Barely had West Bengal come to terms with the horror of the AMRI tragedy, a second man made disaster struck the state, this time killing at least 140 people who consumed country-made liquor which was contaminated with methyl alcohol.
At the Diamond Harbour Sub Divisional Hospital it was chaos, with patients spilling over into the hospital corridors and staircases, and helpless hospital staff and doctors working on a war footing.
"The patients were brought in very late and we can do very little. We are helpless because crucial time has passed," said Dr Saikat Kundu.
"We are getting help from doctors in Kolkata," said Dr Shika Adhikary, chief medical officer health, South 24 Parganas.
Outside the hospital complex, mourning relatives tried to come to terms with their loss.
"My brother consumed alcohol day before yesterday and started vomiting from last night," said Khokan, brother of one of the hooch victims.
Angry locals also took to the streets of Sangrampur, ransacking illicit liquor shops and setting them ablaze.
The local people of Sangrampur said that spurious liqour joints, which they destroyed, ran in full public view and in complete knowledge of the local administration and police.
"Police came and took money from these people. These shops were running right under their noses," said Raihan Sheikh, a local resident.
Meanwhile, an embarrassed district administration has promised strict action.
"We will now crackdown," said N S Nigam, District Magistrate.
Against a mounting death toll, the administration is grappling with its lack of preparedness to deal with such a crisis.
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