Up to 49 residents of a Siberian city have died after drinking toxic bath oil in a bid to find an alcohol substitute.
Russian investigators have said the mass poisoning is one of the deadliest cases of its kind in years in the country.
Use of counterfeit or surrogate alcohol is rife throughout Russia, where two years of economic pain have pushed more people below the poverty line.
The victims are thought to be poor residents of Irkutsk, city around 2,600 miles east of Moscow.
The mayor of Irkutsk had declared a state of emergency and temporarily banned the sale of all liquids containing spirits not meant for human consumption.
Investigators have also confiscated more than 2,000 units of the liquid and announced they had detained two people suspected of distributing the deadly bath oil.
Among liquids that have been used as a substitute for alcoholic drinks are perfume, after-shave, anti-freeze and window cleaner.
The bath oil carried a warning saying it should not be swallowed which was ignored. It contained methylated spirit, investigators said, a toxic substance found in cleaning materials and paint stripper.
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