The 2012 Czech Republic methanol poisonings occurred in September 2012 in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

. In the course of several days, 38 people in the

and 4 people in

died as a result of methanol poisoning and many others were taken to hospital. The poisonings continued for several years after the main wave. As of April 2014, there were 51 dead and many others suffered permanent health damage. The Czech government established a central emergency response council and banned the sale of

liquors Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or hard li ...

with more than 30%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol ( ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) ...

at food stands on 12 September, 2012. On 14 September, the ban was extended to any sale of all alcoholic beverages with an alcohol content above 20% vol. On 20 September, export of such products was banned as well. The restrictions on liquor sales were lifted on 27 September 2012.

The police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

systematically checked shops where liquors were on sale. Led by police vice president Václav Kučera, a special police team called Metyl coordinated the investigations. On 24 September, the police announced that the source of the

methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical and the simplest aliphatic alcohol, with the formula C H3 O H (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often abbreviated as MeOH). It is ...

-contaminated

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

had been identified. Two main suspects were arrested: Rudolf Fian, a businessman from Karviná of Slovak nationality, and Tomáš Křepela, a Czech company owner from

Řitka Řitka is a municipality and village in Prague-West District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,300 inhabitants. Geography Řitka lies about southwest of Prague. Most of the municipality is located in the Hoř ...

. On 21 May, 2014, the two were sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

; eight others to imprisonment for 8 to 21 years. As of May 2018, methanol was banned in the EU for use in windscreen washing or defrosting due to its risk of human consumption

Similar incidents in the past

A similar incident, the Pärnu methanol poisoning incident, occurred in

Pärnu county Pärnu County ( et, Pärnu maakond or ''Pärnumaa''; german: Kreis Pernau) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in the south-western part of the country, on the coast of Gulf of Riga, and borders Lääne and Rapla counties to the nor ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

, in September 2001, when 68 people died and 43 were left disabled after contents of stolen methanol canisters were used in production of bootleg liquor.

In popular culture

The 2018 film ''

Metanol Metanol (English: Methanol) is a 2018 Czech movie. The movie is divided into 2 parts. The film focuses on the 2012 Czech Republic methanol poisonings. The first part premiered on 22 April 2018. It was viewed by 1,350,000 people. The second part pr ...

'', produced by the

Czech Television Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechos ...

, focuses on the distributors of the toxic alcohol and aftermath of the poisonings, including the investigation and eventual trial of perpetrators.

References

{{reflist 2012 in the Czech Republic 2012 in Poland 2012 in Slovakia 2012 crimes in the Czech Republic 2012 crimes in Poland 2012 crimes in Slovakia Alcohol-related deaths in the Czech Republic Methanol poisoning incidents Deaths from food poisoning