December 01, 2020

Deadly Drinks


Deadly Drinks
You won't believe what these friends tried to drink. Image by Simsala111 via Wikimedia Commons

With the coronavirus pandemic forcing people to stay at home, many are turning to creative ideas to keep themselves entertained. One group of friends in Russia’s Siberian Sakha Republic unfortunately tried a new idea that did not work out so well: they drank hand sanitizer at a party; seven people died.

Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, or Rospotrebnadzor, released a statement detailing the incident. Reportedly, a group of nine people bought a five-liter container of hand sanitizer that contained almost 70% methanol, a type of alcohol that is lethal to humans when more than 30 grams is ingested. Three people, two men and one woman, died immediately after drinking the hand sanitizer, while six more were transferred to  Yakutsk for medical treatment. Four of those did not survive, while the other two are in a coma.

The local branch of Rospotrebnadzor has ordered that the hand sanitizer in question be removed from stores in the region.

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