Pakistan Pharmacies Close After Toxic Cough Syrup Kills More Than A Dozen

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Local pharmacies have been closed after toxic cough syrup killed at least 16 people in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore.

On November 26, officials in Punjab Province said a special committee has been created to investigate the incident.

Shaukat Mughal, an official with the Punjab health department, told RFE/RL that local pharmacies were being raided by the police to confiscate possibly tainted cough syrup.

The deaths began occurring in the low-income Shahdra Town neighborhood on November 23.

The victims, between 15 and 45 years old, felt sick after drinking the cough syrup and later died in the hospital.

In January, some 100 heart patients died in Lahore after taking tainted, locally produced medicine.

With reporting by Cnbcpakistan.com