AGI – Seven people died in Russia after drinking a hydroalcoholic solution to disinfect hands, the kind used to prevent coronavirus infection. The local media reported it. The group had decided to consume the antiseptic liquid, consisting of 69% of methanol, after running out of alcohol at a party.
The story took place last Thursday in the Tattinsky district, in Jacuzia. A 41-year-old woman and two men aged 27 and 59 died even before air rescue from Yakutsk, the region’s capital, arrived. Three other men – aged 28, 32 and 69 – died in hospital on Friday and a seventh person died today. Two other people are in a coma and are in intensive care.
Russian health authorities have repeatedly warned the population that the anti-covid hydroalcoholic solution, produced in Russia, must not be consumed. Tragedies related to the intake of alcoholic substitutes are not uncommon in the federation. One of the most serious cases in recent history dates back to December 2016, when in Irkutsk, Siberia, 78 people died and dozens of others were blinded after drinking one hawthorn bath lotion, also containing high doses of methanol.
According to the BBC, up to 12 million Russians consume substitutes for alcoholic beverages such as perfumes, aftershaves, antifreeze liquids and glass cleaners, a phenomenon that has been aggravated following Western sanctions. And in WWII memorials it is easy to come across anecdotes about Red Army soldiers stealing bottles of perfume from homes and emptying them as if they contained liquor.
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