A medical examination has confirmed that 74 people who consumed a bathing lotion containing alcohol in the Siberian city of Irkutsk earlier this month have died as a result of methanol poisoning, local authorities said Wednesday.

"The bodies have been investigated. Seventy-four of them died of methanol; the rest were affected by the large doses of ethyl alcohol," Tatyana Shkurskaya, a spokeswoman for the Irkutsk Region's Health Ministry, was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

On Dec. 17, a mass poisoning by Boyaryshnik, an alcohol-containing liquid, started in Irkutsk. Investigators have opened a criminal case on the manufacturing, storage and sale of the product, which they said does not meet safety requirements.

A total of 120 people have suffered from methanol poisoning during this period, and 11 of them remain in hospital.

source: China