69 dead after drinking poisonous home brew in Mozambique

Mozambique government officials gather samples from a drum that was allegedly used to make local beer.

Story highlights

• The first deaths were people who drank the brew after returning from a funeral
• "Then many dead bodies from several neighborhoods were brought in," an official says

(CNN)A homemade alcoholic drink has reportedly killed 69 people and sickened nearly 200 others in a village in Mozambique.

A group of people returning from a funeral stopped off late Friday in an area where customers can buy a popular home brew -- made from sorghum, bran corn and sugar, and known as Phombe -- according to state-run Radio Mozambique.

By Saturday morning, dead bodies of those who drank the Phombe began arriving at a hospital, the radio station reported, citing Paula Bernardo, a health official in the district of Cahora Bassa.

"As we prepared to determine the cause of death, many more people began to arrive with diarrhea and other muscle aches," Bernardo said. "Then many dead bodies from several neighborhoods were brought in, which aroused our attention."

Authorities are still trying to figure out what contaminated the batch of Phombe that has poisoned so many people in the village of Chitima. Samples taken from a 210-liter (56 gallon) drum of the brew have been sent to a national laboratory for tests, Radio Mozambique reported.

Most of the bodies have been buried in a cemetery in Chitima after a mass led by a bishop, the radio station said.