MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – Two Russians have died and six are in a hospital after drinking suspected counterfeit alcohol during a two-day drinking session on a boat in Siberia, investigators said.
The bodies of the two men were found Monday on a motor boat on a reservoir outside the southeastern Siberian city of Bratsk, according to a statement posted on the website of the local branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee. Six other men from the group of nine people on board were taken to a hospital.
The men began their two-day drinking binge – of hard liquor – on Saturday and likely fell ill because of consuming counterfeit alcohol, investigators said.
The two dead men are Nikolai Naumenko, 32, and Alexander Brazhnikov, 35, Russian tabloid website Life News reported Monday.
The production of “samogon” or moonshine is commonplace in Russia, and incidences of poisoning – sometimes fatal – from drinking bootleg alcohol are also a regular occurrence. In 2009 Russia's Public Chamber put the number of annual deaths from alcohol-related diseases, crimes and accidents at about 500,000 people every year.
