Mass Suicide? Read How 41 People Died After Drinking Bath Oil to Get Drunk

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Mass Suicide? Read How 41 People Died After Drinking Bath Oil to Get Drunk

At least 41 people have died after drinking bath oil to get drunk, Metro UK reports.

Residents in the Siberian city of Irkutsk died after drinking scented bath oil in a desperate bid to become intoxicated.

Russian investigators said the multiple deaths have been labelled the deadliest case of its kind in years.

Use of counterfeit or surrogate alcohol is rife in Russia’s poorer regions, where two years of economic pain have pushed more people below the poverty line.

Russian media reported that the victims were poor residents of Irkutsk, a hard scrabble city around 2,600 miles (4,000 km) east of Moscow.

The case underlines how hard up a large swath of the population is despite Moscow’s aggressive profile on the global stage.

‘It is a terrible tragedy,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. ‘This type of problem is well known and the president has been informed. Measures must be taken.’

Russia’s Investigative Committee sent a group of experienced investigators from Moscow, while Russian news agencies said the mayor of Irkutsk had declared a state of emergency and temporarily banned the sale of all liquids containing spirits not meant for human consumption.

‘According to our latest data 41 of 57 people who were hospitalised after drinking the liquid have died,’ investigators said in a statement.

‘More than 2,000 units of the liquid have been confiscated with an overall volume of 500 litres.’

Among liquids that have been used as a substitute for alcoholic drinks are perfume, after-shave, anti-freeze and window cleaner.