Three brothers have passed away after buying five litres of sanitiser and drinking more than half of it, because they were unable to purchase alcohol during lockdown.
Parvat Ahirwar, 55, Ram Prasad, 50 and Bhura Ahirwar (age not specified) were discovered on Tuesday 23 March in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
According to the Times of India, the three men were all married but were staying away from their families. It's believed that Ram Prasad was a painter who lived in the Ravi Dass Colony of Jahangirabad in Uttar Pradesh.
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The other two brothers, Parvat and Bhura, worked as labourers and slept on the streets of MP Nagar, Bhopal.
Family members told police that the trio had bought the five-litre can of sanitiser when they couldn't get their hands on booze, as all three were addicted to alcohol.
It's believed they bought it on Sunday and consumed it before feeling uneasy. They continued to drink it on the Monday and Ram Prasad went home where he was later found dead.
Bhura and Parvat were found unconscious on the streets of MP Nagar on Tuesday morning. They were all rushed to Jaypee Hospital in Uttar Pradesh but were pronounced dead on arrival. Alongside the bodies were the remaining two litres of sanitiser - which was left over, after the rest was assumed to have been consumed.
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The Times of India reported that a case has been registered and further investigations are said to be ongoing.
Frighteningly, these are far from the first deaths to have resulted from drinking hand sanitiser. Back in November last year, seven people passed away in Russia after drinking the substance, which is used to get rid of bacteria.
The group were at a party in Tomtor village in the Tattinsky district of the country's largest region, Yakutia, where they ran out of alcohol and turned to the antiseptic hand wash.
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Partygoers drank the sanitiser - which was 69 percent methanol - that had been sold as a hand cleanser during the coronavirus pandemic.
In America, three people died and one was permanently blinded after drinking the substance.
The Department of Health said the cases were reported to the New Mexico Poison Control Center. The first came in on 7 May and then others in the weeks that followed. They related to alcoholism, according to health officials.
New Mexico Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel said in a statement at the time: "If you think you may have used or consumed hand sanitiser containing methanol, please seek medical care. An antidote to methanol poisoning is available, but the earlier someone gets treated for methanol poisoning the better the chance of recovery."