UPDATE - Cider Poisoning Death Toll In Russia's Ulyanovsk Region Rises To 20 - Health Ministry

SARATOV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2023) Another two people have died after getting poisoned by surrogate alcohol in western Russia's Ulyanovsk Region, with the total death toll there now standing at 20, the regional health ministry said on Tuesday.

The Russian Investigative Committee (IC) said on Monday that it opened criminal cases after 16 people died of poisoning in the Ulyanovsk Region and two in the neighboring Samara region, including dozens of people hospitalized across the country. The IC said that people got poisoned by the Mister Sidr ("Mr. Cider") drink produced in the Samara Region.

"From June 4-6, 51 cases of poisoning by alcohol-containing drink have been recorded in the region ... In 18 cases, the poisoning resulted in death," the ministry stated.

The ministry said later on Tuesday that a total of 51 cases of poisoning by surrogate alcohol were identified in the region, with the death toll having risen to 20 and the number of people in hospitals having increased to 33.

Later in the day, the Samara Region Health Ministry said that the number of people poisoned by the Mister Sidr drink has reached 14, with 11 people in serious condition. Those poisoned by the cider experienced nausea, vomiting, increased or low blood pressure and blurred vision, the ministry added.

The Leninsky district court in the city of Ulyanovsk has arrested a businessperson from the Samara Region suspected in the mass poisoning case for two months, the court's press office told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"(The suspect) was selected a preventive measure in the form of arrest for two months," the court said, adding that the criminal case was being investigated under the article on the provision of substandard services.

The Russian Health Ministry said late on Tuesday that a total of 90 people have been poisoned by surrogate alcohol across Russia, including four minors and a pregnant woman, and 29 people have died.

Anna Popova, the head of Russian consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Monday that she instructed all regional departments to find and take out of circulation all Mister Sidr products. Police in the Samara Region said that they detained a truck with a delivery invoice for 18,000 liters of alcoholic beverages under the Mister Sidr brand and a search was being carried out at the address of the warehouse indicated in the documents.