– The death toll from a mass poisoning linked to illegal alcohol in southwest Russia rose to 34 on Sunday, and 24 more people were being treated in hospital, local authorities said. Investigators in the Orenburg region opened criminal cases after people began dying of alcohol poisoning this week. Police have since detained 10 people in probes into the production and sale of illegal alcohol, TASS news agency reported.

“There are 67 known victims of surrogate alcohol in the region, 34 of whom have died,” Orenburg’s local government was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Police seized 2,000 bottles of alcohol on Saturday and said they had identified methanol, which is toxic.

Source: VOV5