49 DEAD IN SIBERIA AFTER DRINKING BATH ESSENCE CONTAINING TOXIC SUBSTANCE

MOSCOW— A Russian city declared a state of emergency on Monday after 49 people seeking cheap alcohol died after drinking bath essence containing methanol, a toxic substance used in antifreeze.

The country’s Investigative Committee, a powerful panel of inquiry, has launched a probe into the deaths in the Siberian city of Irkutsk caused by drinking the liquid, labeled hawthorn-scented bath essence, and has detained several people.

Kremlin spokesperson 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 labeled as cosmetics to impoverished alcoholics.

Dozens of people were taken to hospital in the Siberian city of Irkutsk about 4,200 kilometers from Moscow after consuming the toxic substance, investigators said.

An employee of the local prosecutor’s office Alexander Semyonov told Russian agencies that 57 people were known to have consumed the liquid, 49 of whom have died, while the others were in a serious condition.

The product was sold for 40 rubles ($0.65) for a 250-milliliter bottle.

The victims were between 35 and 50 years old, authorities said.

Irkutsk Mayor Dmitry Berdnikov imposed a state of emergency in the city, pledging to “uncover and punish the perpetrators” and inform the public to prevent any further poisoning, the City Hall said on its website.

The city also halted sales of nonpotable and uncertified alcohol products in the city, and municipal workers were going door to door and checking places where homeless people were known to gather, it said.

Police uncovered a workshop producing the hawthorn-scented liquid as well as various brands of counterfeit vodka on the outskirts of Irkutsk, detaining its two owners. Five people suspected of selling the substance were also detained.—