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Methanol poisoning kills four New Year revelers on Far Eastern island

05 January 2011 04:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Four people died of methanol poisoning as New Year celebrations went wrong on a small island in the Kuril Archipelago, Russiaâ€™s chief doctor said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
On December 31, a total of 23 people gathered for New Year party on the Tanfilyev Island in the disputed South Kurils. The 15-square-km island, though officially listed as uninhabited, has a population of several dozens, mainly border guards and shift workers of a local fish-processing facility.
Three merrymakers died almost immediately after drinking unidentified liquid from a canister which one of them found on the shore and brought to the party. 15 more were diagnosed with methanol poisoning and were flown to hospital by a rescue helicopter.
"One more person died in intensive care, others have been discharged from hospital by now," Russiaâ€™s chief doctor Gennady Onishchenko said.
Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, has a smell very similar to drinking alcohol. It is used as a solvent and to produce paint, glass cleaners and antifreezes. Methanol is highly toxic and can cause serious health damage such as blindness, liver failure, kidney failure and sometimes death.