A similar tragedy occurred last week in the Orenburg region. 18 people died in the Sverdlovsk region after consuming surrogate alcohol in the Urals, 16 of them in Ekaterinburg. The Investigative Committee of Russia has opened a criminal case.
“According to the investigation, in the period from October 7 to October 14, 2021, in the Chkalovsky district of Ekaterinburg, several people were engaged in the sale of alcoholic liquid (methyl alcohol), which poses a danger to the life and health of consumers. As a result of consuming the mentioned liquid, 18 people died,” the spokesman for the regional Investigative Committee was quoted by Interfax.
“Of the 18 people, 16 died in Ekaterinburg, one each in Nizhny Tagil and Revda,” said Valery Gorelykh, head of the press service of the regional Interior Ministry. Two suspects have been detained – according to the press service of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, they are local residents, entrepreneurs born in 1978 and 1967, registered in one of the collective gardens of Verkh-Isetsky district of Yekaterinburg.
“At present, investigators are checking possible places of production and distribution of dangerous alcohol surrogates. Representatives of the Interior Ministry are determining the network of connections of the suspects and how long they have been engaged in illegal business, as well as determining the exact number of victims of ‘moonshine’,” Goryelikh added.
Earlier, the regional coordinator of the United Russia party project “People’s Control” Dmitry Chukreev told Interfax that, according to preliminary data, all the victims bought alcohol in bulk at one of the markets located near their place of residence. The Prosecutor’s Office of the Sverdlovsk Region announced that the market complexes in Ekaterinburg will be inspected after the deaths of people from alcohol poisoning.
Last week, a similar tragedy occurred in another Russian region – Orenburg Oblast. There were 34 deaths from alcohol substitute poisoning. A total of 67 people were poisoned in Orenburg. Deadly methyl alcohol was found in their blood. Illegally produced alcoholic beverages are cheaper than legal ones, but may contain deadly dangerous additives, especially methyl alcohol.
The most serious tragedy occurred in Russia in December 2016, when 76 people died in Irkutsk after consuming a perfumed bath product called Boyaryshnik.
The number of people affected by “Hawthorn” poisoning in Irkutsk hospital, 2016. According to the technology, it should be made from ethyl alcohol, but it turned out to be methyl-based.