A 22-year-old man died after taking part in a drinking competition at a bar in Aromo Sub-county in Lira District.
Mr Peter Olobo, a resident of Arwot-olaro Village in Otara Parish, reportedly collapsed and died shortly after consuming six glasses of alcohol in less than three minutes during the alcohol competition on Tuesday.
Two other young men who also took part in the competition became unconscious and were rushed to a nearby clinic for treatment. They, however, recovered hours later.
The Aromo Sub-county chairperson, Mr David Elich, confirmed the incident. He said some of the residents who spoke to Daily Monitor blamed Olobo’s death on the biting youth unemployment in the country.
He said Olobo went to Diana Pub, a local bar in the area where he found his colleagues, John Ojok Oryema and Bonny Ocen Erong. They then put a bet of Shs5,000 each totaling to Shs15,000 which would be won by whoever managed to drink 10 glasses of alcohol within 10 minutes.
“Olobo managed to drink six glasses before he fell on the ground and died while his colleagues also became unconscious and they were rushed to nearby clinic. They recovered hours later,” Mr Elich told Daily Monitor on Wednesday.
Similar incident
This is the second time a similar incident has taken place. “Last year, we lost a boy called Alex Okiba who entered into a drinking competition and died. The contest involved drinking 12 sachets of chief waragi,” Mr Elich said.
The incident happened in Acan-to-ipur Village in the same parish of Otara where high drinking rate among the youth is common.
The LC3 chairperson said the sub-county security committee which he chairs has restricted drinking hours from 3pm to 5pm.
“Anybody found drinking outside that hour will be arrested.”
The officer-in-charge of Aromo Police Station, Mr Hudson Otee, said they have organised an operation that will mainly target unproductive youth.
“We shall carry out an operation to arrest anybody found drinking at a time when they are supposed to do productive work. They will be charged with being rogue and vagabond,” he said.
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