Gardai probing ‘unexplained’ death in Cork believe couple may have been poisoned by homemade alcohol

Gardaí investigating the death of a man whose body was found at a property in Co Cork on Monday believe he may have suffered a form of methanol poisoning after consuming illicit or homemade alcohol.

Gardaí were called out to a property in Broomfield West in Midleton at around 4pm yesterday where they discovered a man in his 60s who was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later, with gardai describing his death as "unexplained."

The man's wife was found conscious but unwell and received medical treatment at the scene before being rushed by ambulance to Cork University Hospital for further medical attention.

A Garda Technical Unit carried out a forensic examination of the scene and based on early early indications, Gardaí do not suspect foul play and are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

Investigating officers are probing what the couple, who are originally from Poland, may have ingested and it is understood that officers found bottles in the house that appeared to contain homemade spirits.

According to CorkBeo, one theory is that the man and woman may have drunk tainted alcohol and succumbed to poisoning, possibly from deadly methanol, which has been linked to a growing number of fatal poisonings, including a recent case involving six backpackers in Laos who were served illegally made spirits.

A postmortem examination is due to be carried out on Tuesday at Cork University Hospital which gardai hope will establish the exact cause of death of the man, who is believed to have had some underlying health issues.

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