Lethal cider kills at least 16 people and leaves dozens more fighting for life: Booze containing lethal amounts of methanol is seized in Russia
- The methanol is more toxic than the ethanol found in regular alcoholic drinks
- Police detained one person on suspicion of causing death through negligence
At least 16 people have died and dozens more have fallen ill after drinking adulterated cider in western Russia’s Ulyanovsk region, local officials said on Monday.
Local governor Alexei Russkikh said the product – labelled ‘Mister Cider’ – had been sold on tap after being brought into the region in 30 litre kegs.
According to local media, the cider contained lethal amounts of methanol, also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, and is much more toxic than the ethanol found in regular alcoholic drinks.
Authorities detained one person on suspicion of causing death through negligence and ordered the affected goods to be removed from sale.
Russkikh said intensive care beds were being set up across the region, located on the river Volga, and that 19 people had been admitted to hospital.
The lethal ‘Mister Cider’ had been sold on tap after being brought into western Russia’s Ulyanovsk region in 30 litre kegs
At least 16 people have died and dozens more have fallen ill after drinking the adulterated ‘Mister Cider’
‘Doctors are fighting to save the lives of each of them,’ Russkikh said.
There were at least 22 known cases of poisoning, reports said, including a 16-year-old girl who was fighting for her life.
But there are fears many more people may have drunk the contaminated alcohol, made in Samara region.
Two female drinkers from Novokuibyshevsk, Samara, are the latest to die in the outbreak. A young man and woman in a third region Udmurtia were fighting for their lives.
Victims suffered nausea, severe headaches, pale skin, dark circles under the eyes.
According to doctors, some had more serious symptoms – people allegedly went blind.
One of the dead was a worker at a store named Beer Territory which sold the cider.
‘She drank a glass,’ said a colleague. ‘They took her away, she was in a coma.
‘Now they have just called me and said that she had died.’
A businessman named Anar Huseynov, 32, who allegedly sold the cider from Samara region has been detained, said the Russian Investigative Committee.
He is under interrogation on suspicion of causing mass deaths by negligence.
According to local media, the cider (pictured) contained lethal amounts of methanol, also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol
A businessman named Anar Huseynov, 32, who allegedly sold the cider from Samara region has been detained by police
Huseynov is under interrogation on suspicion of causing mass deaths by ‘negligence’. It is suspected methanol was put into the cider
The contaminated cider contains methanol much more toxic than the ethanol found in regular alcoholic drinks
Alexey Russkikh, governor of the Ulyanovsk region, urged an immediate halt to sales of the cider brand.
‘The drink was sold for bottling, it was brought to the region in 30-litre bottles,’ he said.
‘Now law enforcement officers are engaged in the seizure of these products in our region.
He urged traders ‘to prevent the sale of such products’.
‘Our doctors and social services continue to provide all necessary assistance to the victims.’
Local police seized 193 bottles from one alcohol outlet.
Russia tightened controls on the production and sale of alcohol after 77 people died drinking cheap moonshine in Siberia in 2016, but the consumption of homemade alcohol remains a problem.
Twenty-nine people died in a single incident in 2021 after consuming locally produced spirits that contained methanol.
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