A Siberian city declared a state of emergency on Monday after 49 people seeking cheap alcohol died from drinking bath essence containing methanol, a toxic substance used in anti-freeze.
The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the deaths caused by drinking a liquid labelled as hawthorn-scented bath essence, and has detained several people.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the deaths a “tragedy” that required “very close attention.” Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered his cabinet to “sort out” the problem of selling such alcoholic products not intended for drinking — often labelled as cosmetics — to impoverished alcoholics.
Medvedev called the widespread sale of such liquids through vending machines, which takes place in cities including Moscow, “an absolute disgrace”.
Fifty-four people were taken to hospital in the Siberian city of Irkutsk about 4,200 kilometres from Moscow after consuming the toxic substance, investigators said."According to our latest data 41 of 57 people who were hospitalized after drinking the liquid have died," investigators said in a statement. "More than 2,000 units of the liquid have been confiscated with an overall volume of 500 liters."Among liquids that have been used as a substitute for alcoholic drinks are perfume, after-shave, anti-freeze and window cleaner.'DEADLIER THAN TERRORISM'Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin critic who wants to challenge Vladimir Putin for the presidency in 2018, said the case had garnered wide attention because so many people had died at the same time. Hundreds of people, he said, died unremarked every day in unrelated cases for the same reason."The problem .... for Russia and its national security is roughly a thousand times more important than Syria, Aleppo, Ukraine and Trump put together," said Navalny, blaming poverty and corruption for the sale of such toxic surrogates."Every year ... (such concoctions) kill more people than have been killed in terrorist attacks in Russia's entire history."Investigators, who opened a criminal case into the poisonings, said they had detained two people suspected of distributing the deadly bath oil. The product carried a warning saying it should not be swallowed, but investigators said people had ignored that and consumed it as if it was alcohol.The bath oil contained methylated spirit, they said, a toxic substance found in cleaning materials and paint stripper.Police said they had found the workshop where the bath oil, called Hawthorn, was being produced alongside bootleg vodka.Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he wanted to look at banning products that could cause so many deaths and that the country's criminal code was being amended to toughen the punishment for people caught selling them.Alcohol market expert Vadim Drobiz says up to 12 million Russians, or about one twelfth of the population, drink cheap surrogate alcohol.
