Latvia alcohol poisoning leaves 7 dead, 50 in hospital
26 Oct 2006 15:35:37 GMT Source: Reuters
By Jorgen Johansson RIGA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Seven people have died and 50 are fighting for their lives in Latvian hospitals after being poisoned by homemade alcohol, the Baltic state's police said on Thursday. Police spokeswoman Sintija Kajina said police had seized around 100 litres of alcohol suspected of being the cause of the poisoning. She did not say what the alcohol was. "The alcohol will be examined and only then will we know what the active chemical is," Kajina said. Hospitals in Preili, 200 km (125 miles) from Riga near the Russian border, were flooded with more than 50 patients and helicopters have been brought in to transport the sick to the capital. Health Ministry spokeswoman Zaiga Barvida said the rural Latgale region was known for having widespread social problems leading to excessive drinking. "The region has a bad economic situation, high unemployment and other social problems and this is why people drink so much alcohol there. But people do drink a lot of alcohol all over the country," Barvida said. Latvia is one of Europe's poorest states and alcoholism remains an entrenched problem. Almost every year deaths from poisoning following binge drinking of homemade alcohol are reported in the Baltics. The latest incident in Latvia echoes a similar one nearby in Russia. A state of emergency was declared in the Russian region of Pskov, which borders Latvia, after more than 400 people were taken to hospital and 15 died as a result of drinking tainted alcohol, Russian television reported on Thursday. "There may be a connection between what is going on in our country and Russia," Kajina said. "We don't know if the alcohol in Latvia has been produced locally or imported from Russia."
