A 40-year-old man identified as Tisiyenji Chapita died suddenly on Sunday after taking locally distilled spirits popularly known as Kachasu on an empty stomach in Dowa, police has confirmed.

Dowa Police Public Relations Officer Richard Kaponda said the man left his home on the said date and went drinking in a nearby village but did not come back.

“Upon noting that his son did not come back from where he went drinking, the father to the deceased Chapita Lefani started searching for him only to find him lying dead beside an earth road within Ngaunde village in the area of Traditional Authority Chiwere,” said Kaponda.

He said the body was later taken to Mvera Health Centre where a postmortem revealed that death was due to severe dehydration, which he said was as a result of drinking alcohol on an empty stomach.

Chapita hailed from M’ndolo village, T/A Chiwere in the district.

Meanwhile, police are advising people in the country to desist from taking alcohol on an empty stomach saying doing so puts one’s life at risk.