09:58, 22 April 2016

Residents of Chechnya are concerned about mass poisoning with water

The residents of Chechnya. Photo by Magomed Magomedov for the "Caucasian Knot"

In the past two days, information was circulated among users of WhatsApp in Chechnya about the mass poisoning with drinking water in the Gudermes District. Local residents say that they fear to drink water from the tap. Chechen authorities have refuted this information; and law enforcers began searching for those who spread these rumours.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in June 2014, in the village of Ishkhoy-Yurt, Gudermes District of Chechnya, a mass poisoning with drinking water occurred. Then, more than 100 people were hospitalized within 24 hours. Experts established then that the source of poisoning was the spring water, which got polluted by rains.

Messages from residents say about at least 400 hospitalized persons in Gudermes, as well as about dozens of casualties of typhus epidemic.

However, the Chechen Ministry of Public Health and the Gudermes administration do not confirm this information.

Ramzan Kadyrov, now the acting head of Chechnya, has also treated the information about the mass poisoning as a provocation. He noted that the spread of rumours about poisoning is aimed to trigger a general panic.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Source: CK correspondents