Brewery turns on the taps
2005-01-01 14:11
Colombo - A Sri Lankan brewery has stopped making beer and switched to bottling water for tsunami victims left high and dry after sea water contaminated their supplies, an official said Saturday.
Lion Brewery which accounts for a large chunk of the local beer market said they stopped production soon after Sunday's tsunamis savaged the island's coastline, killing nearly 29 000 people and leaving a million homeless.
"We have an initial contract for 120 000 bottles of water," a company spokesperson said. "We spent one full day simply washing our plant to start bottling drinking water."
Already 35 000 bottles of water had been sent to eastern Sri Lanka while the brewery worked overtime to keep up with demand.
More than three quarters of the island's coastline was devastated and with sea water contaminating inland water wells, survivors have been appealing for drinking water.
The demand for alcoholic beverages has dropped considerably with the country scrapping all new year celebrations as the nation mourned the losses from the worst disaster in living memory.
- AFP