**Some 80 people have died in Uganda after drinking illegal home-made banana gin laced with methanol, a health official says.**Patrick Tusiime said so many people had died because relatives did not want to admit that people had been drinking the gin, known as waragi.
The deaths have occurred over the past three weeks in the south-western Kabale district, he told Reuters news agency.
He said the authorities were conducting house-to-house searches for the gin.
About 120 jerrycans of waragi have been seized, reports Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper.
“All the alcohol found has been confiscated but people are stubborn and have found ingenious ways of hiding it,” Mr Tusiime said.
He said those affected became blind and suffered liver and kidney failure before dying.
Last year, 19 people died in similar circumstances.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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