Pärnu methanol tragedy
Encyclopedia
The Pärnu methanol tragedy was an incident in Pärnu county
Pärnu County
Pärnu County , or Pärnumaa , is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in south-western part of the country, on the coast of Gulf of Riga, and borders Lääne and Rapla counties to the north, Järva and Viljandi counties to the east, and Latvia to the south...

, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

 on September 9, 2001 and following days that led to death of 68 people, disability (including blindness
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

 or brain damage
Brain damage
"Brain damage" or "brain injury" is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors...

) to 40 people, and severe disability to 3 people.

On the night of 6 September 2001, ten 200-litre canisters of methanol
Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...

, totalling 1.6 metric tonnes, were stolen from Baltfet (a company processing industrial fat
Fat
Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...

s, ester
Ester
Esters are chemical compounds derived by reacting an oxoacid with a hydroxyl compound such as an alcohol or phenol. Esters are usually derived from an inorganic acid or organic acid in which at least one -OH group is replaced by an -O-alkyl group, and most commonly from carboxylic acids and...

s and animal feed
Compound feed
Compound feeds are feedstuffs that are blended from various raw materials and additives. These blends are formulated according to the specific requirements of the target animal...

) by Deniss Pletškin, a former employee and Robert Petrov, a current employee, on order of Sergei Maistrišin. In order to cover up the theft, Petrov later replaced the stolen canisters with empty canisters. Maistrišin proceeded to sell the stolen methanol to Aleksandr Sobolev, a known smuggler, for 76,000 krooni
Estonian kroon
In 1992, coins were introduced in denominations of 5, 10, 20 & 50 senti, as well as 1 kroon. The 1 kroon was struck in cupronickel, the others in aluminum-bronze. However, in 1997, nickel-plated steel 20 senti were introduced, followed by aluminum-bronze 1 kroon in 1998. 5 senti coins were not...

, claiming it was technical spirit. Sobolev mixed the liquid with water and lemon
Lemon
The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...

 flavouring agents at about 30% by volume, bottled the resulting liquid, attached fake labels of various well-known brands, and distributed it through an underground network. Hundreds of people ended up drinking the resulting product, thinking it was vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....

, and acquired methanol poisoning.

Maistrišin ended up convicted and sentenced to five years of imprisonment
Imprisonment
Imprisonment is a legal term.The book Termes de la Ley contains the following definition:This passage was approved by Atkin and Duke LJJ in Meering v Grahame White Aviation Co....

, Sobolev was sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment. Six other accomplices were given brief custodial sentences; about a dozen were sentenced to time served. The unexpectedly lenient sentencing aroused considerable discussion in Estonian public arena, and led to decline in underground alcohol sales.

Sources

  • Tiiu Põld: Eesti kohtueksperdid ja nende lahendatud lood (ISBN 978-9985-9918-1-7), Tartu 2008, pages 170–184
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK