Bangalore/Krishnagiri, May 20: Three days after an illicit liquor tragedy struck parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in which 87 people lost their lives, 16 people died today in yet another hooch tragedy in border villages.

The killer brew claimed 16 lives in Hebbagodi, Attibele and Sarjapur in Anekal taluk bordering Tamil Nadu, where several people had consumed the illicit liquor yesterday, police said. It is not yet known how many people were admitted to hospitals.

With this, the toll in the Karnataka hooch tragedy including parts of Bangalore city, Kolar and Anekal---shot up to 78.

Meanwhile, four more people who consumed the liquor on May 18 died in Bowring Hospital, taking the toll to 43 in the city, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) B K Singh said. "Given the present scenario, the toll in all likelihood may go up", he said. Nineteen people had died in Kolar in the May 18 tragedy.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Human Rights Commission on Tuesday squarely blamed laxity on the part of officials for the hooch tragedy in parts of the state which has claimed 78 lives. "Prima facie threre appears to be a lapse on the part of authorities," Commission's Chairman S R Nayak, who visited the tragedy-hit areas in the city, told reporters. Nayak, who toured D J Halli, centre of the hooch tragedy in the city, said during his interaction with family members of victims and locals they informed him that spurious liquor had been freely available in the area since the past several years despite the ban imposed last year. Lamenting the lack of facilities in the Bowring Hosptial where those who had consumed the brew had been admitted, he said he would urge the Chief Secretary to depute two responsible IAS officers at the Bowring Hospital to monitor the situation and provide all possible help. He urged private hospitals to come forward to treat the victims. Congress leader R Roshan Baig,who accompanied Nayak during the tour, demanded immediate suspension of excise officials for 'dereliction of duty.'