An Indian in the southeastern Colombian province of Guaviare died and at least seven others were gravely ill after imbibing a homemade liquor fermented from bananas that were apparently contaminated by pesticide used to eradicate coca, the raw material of cocaine, authorities said Monday.

A number of Indians drank the liquor Sunday afternoon at a get-together in La Reforma, a settlement in the jungles of the Calamar municipality.

The municipal health secretary, Liliana Rodriguez, told Efe by telephone that the victims became ill within 20 minutes of swallowing the liquor.

They drank chicha, a liquor brewed from bananas that, according to local indigenous leader Emilio Gutierrez, were apparently contaminated by the pesticide glyphosate, Rodriguez said.