Four people died on July 3 and five others were hospitalised for suspected rice wine poisoning in Svay Tong Khang Tbong commune of Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district.

District governor Oun Khorn told The Post on July 3 that his team was inspecting the scene as part of an ongoing probe.

“For now, doctors suspected that they died from wine poisoning but were not a hundred per cent sure. We will test the wine sample at the laboratory first,” he said.

Khorn said the authorities had raised public awareness about wine poisoning and also shut unauthorised rice wine production facilities in his district, but people could still get tainted wine to drink.

He said authorities would look into the matter.

If wine poisoning was determined to be the cause of their deaths, this would be the second case in the same district.

In May,10 people also died from wine blended with dangerously high levels of methanol.