MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Twenty-three persons of interest have been detained as part of a criminal case into a mass deadly poisoning with an alcohol-containing bath lotion in Irkutsk, the Russian Investigative Committee said Monday.
"Twenty-three people have been detained as part of the criminal case," committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told reporters.
23 December 2016, 13:06 GMT
At least 123 methanol poisoning cases have been recorded in connection with the consumption of the dangerous methylated spirit Boyaryshnik (Hawthorn), 76 of them deadly, she added.
Mikhail Luzhnov, the Irkutsk Region's consumer watchdog deputy chief, is among those detained who is suspected of negligence. The investigation believes that Luzhnov has ignored appeals to ban the illegal sale of Boyaryshnik that local residents have made since May, Petrenko said.
