Seven die in Russia after drinking hand sanitiser as they ran out of alcohol

As many as seven people died in Russia and two remain in a coma after they consumed hand sanitiser reportedly when they ran out of alcohol in a party. 

Russian investigators on Saturday said nine people had fallen violently ill in the village of Tomtor in Yakutia after they consumed diluted hand sanitiser. 

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They also said that they discovered an unlabelled five-litre canister at the scene and its contents revealed that it contained 69 per cent methanol.

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LADBible said that the nine people consumed the alcohol after their stock of alcohol emptied. 

Health officials said three people died on spot, while four others lost their lives in a hospital, reported news agency AFP. 

Doctors are currently trying to save the lives of two people who are in a coma and put under ventilator: a 48-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man. 

A criminal case has been lodged for the "infliction of death by negligence".

Yakutia on Sunday banned the sale of the methanol-based hand sanitiser after the incident.

In Russia's poorer areas, intake of alcohol substitutes for its cheaper rates is common and in a similar incident in 2016, 78 people died in Siberia's Irkutsk region after they consumed a hawthorn-infused bath lotion.