Recently in Tehran 57 persons were poisoned and admitted to hospitals after consumption of vodka. Seventeen of the 57 died and two others became blind. Analyses of the remaining vodka samples showed that they were contraband and were mixtures of methanol and water. Post-mortem samples of blood from 15 victims' hearts and two samples of viscera were analysed for methanol, the concentrations ranging from 23 to 268 mg per 100 ml blood and per 100 g viscera, respectively.