MULTAN, Sept 4: As many as 24 people were reported dead due to the consumption of poisonous liquor in and around Multan during the last 24 hours.

Thirteen of the victims belonged to Multan while the rest were said to be residents of Muzaffargarh district.

Doctors at Nishter Hospital told Dawn that arrival of people having fallen unconscious owing to the consumption of home-brewed liquor started from Friday night.

They said that two of them, Saddiq and Nazar, had expired before any medical aid could be provided to them while Mukhtar, Meraj, Farhat, Aftab, Tahir, Mumtaz and Arif died on arrival at the hospital. The victims belonged to the city slums and villages situated on its outskirts.

Similarly, Sajjad Hussain and Yousaf of Multan's Gharibabad Colony could not survive the intake of poisonous liquor. They were brought unconscious to some area quacks by their relatives on Saturday morning.

A flower-seller, Muhammad Javed, was found dead at his shop on Abdali Road on Saturday morning. Doctors confirmed that poisonous liquor had proved fatal to him. Jan Mohammad was another Multan resident who died after consuming poisonous liquor.

Seven people died in Kot Addu city of Muzaffargarh district on Saturday for identical reasons. They were identified as Karim Bakhsh, Zahoor, Sheikh Khalil, Abbas, Gul Muhammad, Faqeer Mohammad and Aftab.

One Ghulam Ali of Mouza Qaiser Ghazlani in Jatoi tehsil of Muzaffargarh also died after drinking liquor. Sharafat, a resident of the same tehsil, suffered the same fate.

Late-night reports confirmed two more deaths in Shah Jamal area of Muzaffargarh. The victims were Zafar Shah and Irshad.

Police authorities of both the districts confirmed the death toll.

Multan district police officer Hamid Mukhtar Gondal said that a case had been registered on the report of Muhammad Aslam and Abdul Qayyum, who survived the deadly liquor, against one Nazar alias Naja of Cha Boharrwala for illegally selling liquor, which also carried poisonous substance.

The DPO said that he had constituted four teams to track down Naja in order to "smash the racket responsible for making liquor that caused instant deaths to a number of people."

This is the second serious incident of its kind in Multan during the last four years. Earlier, 40 people were killed in a span of seven days after taking liquor manufactured by a local gang.