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A Japanese student vomited and collapsed after mistakenly drinking hand sanitiser during a girls' 5,000-metre walking race.
Mistakenly poured sanitiser into cups
The organisers of the race, which was held in Japan's Yamanashi prefecture, had mistakenly poured hand sanitiser into cups and subsequently left them at the drinks station for the athletes, AFP reported.
According to Yamanashi's high school sports federation, the hand sanitiser was stored in an unlabelled plastic bottle.
The bottle was then placed in a cardboard box alongside plastic bottles containing drinking water.
Three athletes consumed the hand sanitiser
A total of three student-athletes were reported to have consumed the hand sanitiser, thinking it was drinking water.
One collapsed and vomited.
The other two spat out the hand sanitiser and continued with the race.
All three were eventually conveyed to the hospital and are reportedly recovering.
Investigation to be launched
On Monday (May 9), Yamanashi governor Kotaro Nagasaki said that a third-party investigation would be launched to find out what had happened.
He also apologised on behalf of the prefecture to the girl that had collapsed.
Dangers of ingesting hand sanitiser
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ingesting hand sanitiser containing methanol can cause methanol poisoning.
Symptoms of methanol poisoning include nausea, vomiting, blurry vision, and abdominal pain.
Methanol can also affect the central nervous system, causing a slowdown in brain activity.
If left untreated, patients may go into a coma, encounter respiratory or circulatory failure, and even death.
In November 2020, seven people in Russia passed away while another two were reportedly in a coma after they drank hand sanitiser at a party.
From May 1 to June 30 that same year, 15 people in Arizona and New Mexico in the U.S. were treated for poisoning after they swallowed alcohol-based hand sanitiser.
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Top image via Pixabay.