Thirty die of alcohol poisoning after drinking bath lotion

At least 30 people have died of alcohol poisoning in a Siberian city after drinking bath lotion.

Russian health chiefs said the victims died of methanol poisoning after consuming the lotion containing alcohol in the city of Irkutsk. Another 15 people are in a serious condition in the city's hospitals.

Officials said the bottles of lotion were clearly marked with warnings that they are not for internal use. A probe into the incident is under way.

Poisonings with surrogate alcohol are a regular occurrence in Russia, but the Irkutsk case is one of the deadliest incidents of its kind in years.