Third Russian tourist dies of alcohol poisoning

A third Russian woman has died of alcohol poisoning after a yacht tour in the popular Turkish Aegean resort of Bodrum, this time after returning to Moscow, spokesman for Russia’s state tourism watchdog said on Wednesday.

A group of Russian tourists in Bodrum were hospitalized over the weekend with symptoms of severe alcohol poisoning after a yacht tour organized by a local company.

One of the group, Maria Shalyapina, born in 1983, died on Monday in a hospital in the Turkish city of Antalya as doctors were unable to stabilize her condition. Another, Aigul Zalayeva, born in 1991, died on Tuesday, Oleg Moseyev of Rosturizm said.

The third woman, Marina Shevelyova, born in 1989, flew back to Moscow after the cruise.

“After arriving in Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport she got home and then relatives took her to hospital,” a police source said. Shevelyova died on Monday afternoon but her death was only reported on Wednesday.

Five other tourists remain in hospitals in Antalya; two of them are in critical condition.

Turkish prosecutors are considering initiating a criminal case against the owners of the yacht where the tourists were poisoned, Russian diplomats in Antalya said.

Russia’s state tourism agency Rosturizm said Turkey’s government would pay for the Russian tourists’ medical treatment.

“The Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry will cover all the costs of the poisoned tourists as well as their traveling fares and the accommodation in Turkey of the relatives of those killed and poisoned,” a Rosturizm spokesman said.