AKIPRESS.COM - At least 29 people have been killed after consuming toxic alcohol in India's Uttar Pradesh state, police said.

Residents of a number of villages in Lucknow and Unnao districts fell ill after drinking the alcohol, reports AFP.

More than 100 people are being treated in hospital, with fears the death toll could rise.

Toxic alcohol deaths are a regular occurrence in India, where people often drink cheap country liquor.

The victims were rushed to various hospitals in the state after the first cases of poisoning were reported in Kharta village near Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

The Press Trust of India quoted the state's chief medical officer SNS Yadav as saying that 123 people have been admitted to at least two hospitals.

Authorities have begun an investigation into the incident, but no arrests have yet been made.

Government spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary told the AFP news agency that a dozen officials had been suspended from different local departments over negligence.

"The guilty will not be spared," he said.