According to TASS, in the area of Kaunas, the country’s second largest city, at least 16 people died as a result of the use of counterfeit alcohol. The other two are in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Lithuania. Alcohol was homemade.
Deaths were reported within 10 days, and the age of the victims, men and women, ranged from 30 to 60 years.
“The investigation into the deaths began after police received a report from medics in Kaunas that many deaths had been reported in the past month from people who had consumed strong domestic alcoholic beverages. They were all found dead or died shortly after use. ” Prosecutor from Kaunas Akse Lipkevich told journalists about this. He added that 17 pre-trial proceedings have already been initiated.
During the investigation, police searched several residential buildings in the Aleksotas Kaunas area. According to the investigation, several people sold counterfeit alcohol.
According to initial data, it is methyl alcohol. Jonas Surkus, a toxicologist in the nephrology department at the Kaunas Clinic, said the use of methyl alcohol was deadly. “This is insidious, because in its characteristics – taste and smell – methyl is almost no different from ethanol – from ordinary alcohol.”
So far, two people, a man and a woman, are suspected of spreading illegal counterfeiting, but shortly after his arrest, the man died of alcohol poisoning.