Moscow: 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.
Fifty-four people were taken to hospital in the Siberian city of Irkutsk about 4,200 km from Moscow after consuming the toxic substance, investigators said. Local prosecutor Stanislav Zubovsky said 49 of them died, while the others are in a serious condition.
“This figure will grow” as authorities are still searching places where the essence could have been ingested,” Zubovsky said.
