The death toll from a batch of toxic illegal alcohol in India has risen to 53, media reported Sunday – cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Tamil Nadu state Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has said the locally brewed arrack drink was laced with poisonous methanol, killing 37 within hours after they drank the illegal alcohol on Tuesday – as more victims are currently in the hospital for treatment.

More than 100 people were rushed to hospital, but some were too sick for medics to save.

Hundreds of people die every year in India from cheap alcohol made in backstreet distilleries, but this poisoning is one of the worst in recent years.

To increase its potency, the liquor is often spiked with methanol which can cause blindness, liver damage and death.

Some went blind and were rushed to hospital.

Others died rapidly, collapsing in the street.

"The men work just to drink, and the women run the family", auto rickshaw driver Shankar, who lives on a street where 23 people died, told the Indian Express.

M.S. Prasanth, the top government official in the state's Kallakurichi district, said "53 people have passed away", according to the latest figures on Saturday, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.

Other Indian media on Sunday put the toll as high as 55, but there was no immediate official confirmation.

Seven people had been arrested in connection with the "spurious liquor tragedy", PTI added.